New Beginnings
by Hikari43837
Summary: When a new revelation about Sasuke Uchiha rocks their world, Naruto and Gaara have to find a way to protect their best friend from being hurt irreparably. But can they do it?
1. First Day Back

**Hikari*** We is back!

**Asahi*** Dids you misses us?

**Hikari*** Probs not, but that's okey-dokey!

**Asahi*** Don't forget that this fanfic is BL and SasuNaru! (Cue fangirl screams) And that we could care less if you review or not!

**Hikari*** (Elbowing Asahi in stomach) Don't tell them that! I actually LIKE reading the comments during my psych class!

**Asahi*** Okay, so… She cares….

**Hikari*** I own absolutely nothing other than the winding plot…

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New Beginnings - Chapter 1: Starting over

It was the start of a new school year, and a new school, but all the same people that had ever been there. Sasuke sighed as he walked through the barely familiar halls to find his locker. He had gone to orientation last month, but it had been a very… eventful month since then. He didn't know what to expect when he saw a very energetic, very bright flash of orange come up beside him. The blonde was dressed in an orange hoody, as per usual, with a pair of black skinny jeans and a dark blue t-shirt on. His headphones were still blasting music as the blond was jumping eagerly to.

"First day, teme! Aren't you a bit underdressed?" The blond was warily eying the black sweatshirt and dark grey sweatpants his friend was wearing.

Sasuke looked down, a bit confused, "It's comfy, baka." He was scowling, since in all truth he'd just rolled out of bed that morning.

Just then, Gaara settled his head on Sasuke's shoulder, making the raven jump nearly a foot in the air. "What's wrong with how he's dressed? I don't get it…"

Sasuke turned, holding his chest, hoping he wasn't going to have a panic attack from the scare Gaara had given him, looking the other boy up and down. He was wearing a blood-red sweatshirt and a pair of loose-fitting jeans. "What's wrong with his outfit, Mr. Fashion guru-man?" Sasuke knew that the other was dressed more for school show-offs, but it was still just clothes.

"What's wrong with is outfit is that it's soooo plain! How boring can you get, guys?" Naruto asked, waving his arms frantically.

"You're flailing, Naruto… You're gonna hit somebody…" Gaara said, looking at the blond hopelessly.

Naruto looked at the red-head as though he were crazy. "I'm not gonna hit anyone! See?" And with that he flung his arms out wide, knocking a pretty girl with long black hair right in the face, while the blonde in front of her dodged, easily dancing to the side. He looked down questioningly as he looked at the lavender-eyed girl sitting on the floor of the hall.

"Naruto-kun… You should probably look where you flail…" She whispered quietly, hoisting up her backpack and rubbing her forehead.

Naruto rubbed the back of his head nervously, "Sorry Hinata-chan, I guess I should've listened to Gaara sooner, huh?"

"Just a little, Naruto-kun… You're lucky I'm your friend, otherwise I might have to call for Negi-kun…" Hinata joked.

Naruto looked the girl up and down before his eyes lit up, "Is that from this new season's collection?" He asked excitedly, looking over her soft lavender pleated miniskirt and white short-sleeved shirt with three bows lined vertically on the right side and the left side left completely open and corseted together with lavender lace to show a plain black tube top underneath.

Hinata blushed, looking down, "Yeah, it is… I heard that Naruko designed it, so I bought it without even thinking… After all, she's my favourite designer…"

Naruto beamed, "That," he pointed to the blushing girl, "is how to dress for the first day of school!"

Gaara rolled his eyes, but Sasuke had something he just had to say and he walked over to Hinata, "So, in other words, you want me to just strip her and cross-dress for the day?"

Hinata turned bright red at this and looked hopefully at Naruto, but all he said was, "You know, you could probably actually pull it off with a few hair extensions…"

Sasuke scowled, his voice dripping with sarcasm, "Right, so… I'll just go get a gender-swap so that I can live up to your dress code standards…"

Naruto blinked, not quite getting it, and was about to ask a question – probably pointless – when Sakura, Kiba, Shikamaru and TenTen walked up and interrupted.

"Hey Sasu-kun!" Sakura bubbled. "How do you like my outfit? I picked it out just for my special boyfriend!"

The raven rolled his eyes before looking over to Naruto, "Why doesn't the master tell us the answer to that one..."

Naruto looked over Sakura's fishnet mid-drift, her black tank top that barely covered her chest, her black fingerless gloves, black and pink plaid miniskirt, with one thigh-high stocking and one knee-length with her black combat boots with pink laces. He blinked a few times. Naruto had heard that his friend had changed, but he didn't realize she'd gone completely Goth. He looked again, rubbing his eyes. He shrugged it off, "If your boyfriend's into all that black, I guess it's fine…"

She smiled happily, "Score!" She looked at the clock, "I should get to Kakashi's class, I don't wanna be late on the first day!" And with that she was gone.

TenTen looked after the pinkette before looking up and asking what that was all about.

"I have no clue," Shikamaru said tiredly, "I don't understand her anymore… She must really like that guy in order to do all of that for him though. It almost looks like she's back on Sasuke's trail, but she knows you're gay by now, I'm sure of it…"

Hinata and TenTen looked at each other before deciding it was time for them to go to Ibiki's class for first hour, waving with the promise to meet back up at lunch. The boys remained in the hall though, since they didn't feel like going to class just then. When there were only two minutes left, they ambled down the hall to Genma's class in an effort to act like they wanted to be there.

The day drug on with syllabus after syllabus, but it was finally lunch time and as Sasuke walked down the stairs with Naruto and Gaara, he was intrigued that Sakura had managed to snag a table for the small group. The boys sat down with her and waited for Kiba, Shikamaru, and Hinata.

After lunch, the boys realized the true extent to their luck as all three had every class together. Every other year, at least one of them had been separated from the other two. Sasuke was extremely relieved that he wouldn't be alone in classes this year. With a group of gay guys was always easier to deal with the critical looks and taunts than alone. Kiba and Shikamaru were great last year, but it wasn't the same as when Naruto and Gaara were there. The trio made a good team, and they were better as a group than they ever were alone.

School finally ended with a loud ring of the bell.

"Thank god!" Naruto yelled, jumping out of his seat.

Gaara laughed, "Feeling cooped up yet, Naruto?"

"Definitely! I am ready for release!" he yelled.

The rest of the class looked at him like he was the biggest freak in the world, but Sasuke looked up, glaring daggers at the crowd, "Do you have a problem? Cuz if not, you idiots can stop staring like he pulled out his dick right here."

They all looked down, except for one fool who sauntered over cockily. He had silver hair that was pulled back into a low ponytail and was wearing a purple and black flannel shirt unbuttoned to show a white tank top and grey skinny jeans. "I have an issue with your fags hanging out around my school."

Gaara looked up only half-caring, "Who were you again? I didn't realize that I was stepping on your non-existent balls by going to school…"

The silver-haired boy scoffed, "As if I'd let you anywhere near my balls. I'd be afraid you'd like what you see too much."

Sasuke leaned back in his seat, "Who would even want to look at your nastily tiny junk. What a narcissistic guy…"

Naruto nodded, "Just cuz we're into guys doesn't mean that we automatically hunt down any guy available to rape…" He glared at the boy, "How old are you anyways?"

Sasuke looked up for the first time, "Oh, aren't you the idiot that's failed three grades in a row? If you can't even get past grade 10, what're you gonna do with the rest of your life? You know you're a year away from being kicked out…"

The boy blushed, turning on his heel ad leaving without another word. The room was silent for a bit, but people moved on, gossiping about the trio.

"So, Sasuke, are you gonna come over to see Naruko, finally?" Naruto asked curiously.

"I was planning on it, why?"

"Cuz Gaara's gonna be there anyway, he ate the last cookie last night and Temari kicked him to the curb, so he asked if he could spend some time at my place." He explained.

Sasuke thought about it before relenting to Naruto's pouty face. "I'll call Father to see. No promises." He pulled out his phone and dialled the number quickly. His mother answered on the first ring. "Hello, Mother. *pause* Is it alright if I don't come home for dinner tonight? *pause* Do you have to ask him? *pause* Because I know his answer… *pause* You can try, I guess… But I doubt he'll say yes. *long pause* So? *pause* He said what? *pause* Wow… Thank you, Mother. *pause* I'll try to get home early, yeah… *pause* Thanks again. See ya."

"So?" Gaara looked up expectantly.

Sasuke stood there dumbfounded, "He said yes… He never says yes…"

Naruto beamed, "So what? Don't sweat why, let's hit the road."

The three packed their bags up and headed for Naruto's and Naruko's small house. 

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**Hikari* **Welp, let us know what y'all thinks…

**Asahi* **You spent way too much time in Texas…

**Hikari* **We'll be back… I hope…


	2. Sitting Pretty

Disclaimer: We do not own Naruto, just this story. This does have BL, if you don't likey, don't ready…

Enjoy!

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"Naruko! We're home!" Naruto yelled loudly as he opened the door. "Sasuke, you've never met Naruko, have you?

"No, I haven't," he admitted, "but I have heard plenty of stories about her." Suddenly, a blonde with long pigtails ran from around the corner into Naruto's small mudroom.

"Naru-chan, Gaa-kun! I'm so glad you came home!" She tackled the duo, actually pushing them to the floor. This girl, who Sasuke assumed was Naruko, looked bedraggled, as her bangs were standing up in all different directions and her sweater was bunched at her elbows. Then Sasuke noticed what all of the Naruko stories had in common. She wasn't wearing anything that could even be remotely considered pants since her shorts were leaving next to nothing to the imagination as they showed her panties clearly. Sasuke sighed, he'd hoped the rumours were exaggerated, but no such luck. Just then, she looked up and noticed Sasuke standing there. "Hey, who's this cutie?" She asked, standing up and stepping on the floored duo as she got closer to the raven. "She looked at him critically before exclaiming, "He's perfect! Thank you Naru-chan!" With that, she hopped into the living room happily and handed the trio three bags. "Now, don't mix and match, boys!"

The trio headed upstairs warily, glancing around nervously. When they were finally in Naruto's room, they opened the bags, and to Sasuke's and Naruto's dismay, they pulled out a skirt and a dress. Gaara had gotten lucky, apparently not for the first time seeing how Naruto was glaring at him hatefully for a few seconds until Gaara came over and kissed his forehead and he calmed down a bit.

Sasuke sighed as he stripped, putting on the black miniskirt and a skull mid-drift. He looked into the bag, dreading the rest of the outfit. There were a pair of ripped thigh-highs and a black choker. He added the two items before turning to see Naruto pouting on the bed with a neon pink headband, with a matching frilly shoulderless dress with long sleeves that went past Naruto's fingertips. He also wore white thigh-highs with pink frills at the top. Gaara really had gotten off easily, wearing a fishnet shirt with a loose, unbuttoned red flannel shirt over it. He had grey skinny jeans that were ripped down the entire outer sides and loosely stitched together with red lace so that they showed the entirety of his leg. Sasuke noticed something as he marvelled at how well Gaara pulled it off when he noticed something odd.

"Gaara, why don't you button your pants? If they fall down, everyone will see your junk…"

Gaara looked at him weird, "That's the thing… They won't button…"

Naruto looked incredulous, "That's not possible, Naruko tailor-makes all of her designs… There has to be a mistake." With that, the blond walked over to the red-head and pulled at the jeans and almost got them together when he paused and pulled at the waistband, turning it over in confusion. "Sasuke! There's no hole here! I can't find it!"

The raven blinked, walking over to find that Naruto was right, there wasn't a hole. "Well, I guess that we go down now… Don't we?"

Naruto nodded, leading the way down the stairs. When Sasuke looked up, he saw something he wished he didn't. His father was sitting on the couch talking to Naruko. He tried to hide behind Naruto, but was easily spotted by his father, who let out a surprised "Sasuke?"

"Hello, Father…" He said meekly as he peeked around Naruto.

"Sasuke, what are you doing?" He growled, stalking over to the raven and grabbing him by the wrist painfully. Sasuke squeaked softly, his already revealing mid-drift shifting up to show mean purple bruises on his chest.

Gaara noticed, growling at Fugaku, "Let go of him."

Fugaku noticed the boy, glaring at him, "So these are your faggot friends, are they Sasuke?" When the boy didn't answer, Fugaku glared and slapped the raven, leaving a red mark. "Well? Are they?"

"And what do you care, old man?" Naruto yelled, moving closer to Fugaku in an attempt to be menacing, but with his smaller stature, he didn't succeed at all, only receiving a glare from the man.

"We're leaving Sasuke, go get dressed, now." He pushed the boy back up the stairs. Once they were back in Naruto's room, Fugaku sighed, looking at Sasuke. "What did I tell you about standing up for yourself, Sasuke? Especially at school."

Sasuke's heart sank, he knew his father was disappointed in him, "He picked on us first…"

"That doesn't make it okay! Sasuke, he told the principal that you three beat him up today. But you're in no shape to do that," he motioned to the bruises. "Do they know?"

Sasuke shook his head, "No, not at all. I told them that I had to go to cram school this summer and that's why I couldn't spend any time with them." He looked down, "Sorry that you have to take the fall for him, dad…"

Fugaku shook his head, "I should have noticed it sooner, Sasuke; it's my fault. I should have protected you more."

Sasuke looked up at his father, "Father, why did you get so angry earlier? You told me you'd support me in any of my decisions."

Fugaku looked down, "I'd rather they think I'm abusive than oblivious."

Sasuke looked down, folding the clothes he had been wearing and putting them back into their bag. "I think I'm going to tell them what happened. I don't want to hide it anymore, and soon all the marks will be going away anyways. It's not your fault that any of this happened. I'll tell them tomorrow, so… Can we just go home dad?"

Fugaku nodded, reluctantly grabbing his son's arm and brutally dragging him down the stairs, and over to the door. They were almost home free, and Sasuke was holding his breath, but there was no such luck.

**With Naruto**

"We should do something!" Naruto exclaimed as the two Uchihas disappeared upstairs. "He can't treat him like that!"

"Naruto, don't get involved. I feel like there's something else going on… Something they aren't telling us." Gaara said calmly.

Naruko nodded, "You don't know what happened today. Or anytime in the recent past."

Naruto looked at the two as though they had just sprouted ears and tails and were playing with a ball of yarn. "Do you know something I don't Naruko?"

Naruko blushed deep red, but kept silent, looking at her coffee. "N-nothing more than you Naru-chan…" she laughed nervously.

Naruto pouted, "You're a terrible liar, Naruko-nee…"

She sighed exasperatedly, "All I know is that his dad said something about exceptional circumstances. I wasn't paying attention! I was too busy jumping excitedly!"

Naruto and Gaara looked at each other. It was typical for Naruko, but still unbelievable. "I'm going to do something about it. What if he's hurt? He could be in trouble. What if his dad's forcing him to be a drug pusher or something and he's caught in the wrong territory? Or if he's getting beaten by his mother? Or what if Itachi's raping him? I don't know what to think!"

Gaara and Naruko looked at the blond. "You know, Naruto… Somehow we don't have the same list of culprits…" Naruko said slowly.

Just then Fugaku came down the stairs, pulling a dejected looking Sasuke down the stairs behind him. They were almost to the door when Naruto ran over and grabbed Fugaku. "He's not going anywhere with you!" he yelled.

Sasuke looked surprised, "Naruto… Leave it alone…" He looked down again, expecting to lurch forward, but instead he heard his father coughing and felt him let go. His eyes shot up to find Gaara holding his father in a chokehold. "Gaara…" He was in shock, but he easily recovered and kicked his friend in the stomach, forcing him to let go and look down at the raven. "Don't you dare hurt him!"

Fugaku blinked, gasping for air, looking across at his son. Sasuke looked back at him guiltily, but Fugaku didn't look angry at all. Once he had caught his breath, he sighed. "Sasuke, I think you need to tell them about in now."

Sasuke looked down as his friends stared at him questioningly. "You're probably right. I should tell them now."

Sasuke helped his father up and they all made their way into the living room to talk about what had happened over the summer. He was going to come clean and tell his friends everything. Starting at the beginning of the last school year and ending with the accident just two days before school started back up again.

"Sasuke?" Naruto asked, looking at his friend nervously.

The raven looked down, pulling off his sweatshirt and rolling up the legs of his sweatpants to show old scars marring his legs and a large cluster of bruises on his chest. He didn't know what his friends were thinking as they slowly fingered his legs and chest, but he didn't care either. He just wanted to get this over with. And he knew this was the only way to do it…

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**Hikari* What happened to Sasuke?**

**Asahi* What will his friends think?**

**Hikari* Keep reading to find out!**


	3. Revelations

**We do not own Naruto, because then fans would hate us so incredibly much! If you're still reading, you know all the warnings…. So, yeah! Enjoy!**

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Sasuke sat there for a few minutes. He knew where to start, but he didn't know if he could. He knew that his friends were just worried, but that didn't help him make his choice. Naruto and Gaara looked at him with worry, resting their hands on either of his shoulders, urging him on. He looked down, taking a deep breath.

Naruto knew that his friend didn't want to tell them, but he had to know. No one was going to touch his raven and get away with it. Naruto blushed deep red. His raven… He liked that, almost as much as when Sasuke made fun of him.

"It started about a year ago…" Sasuke looked up in time to see Gaara's and Naruto's faces darken. Fugaku smiled inwardly slightly. At least he hadn't been the only one not to notice. "Remember Uncle Madara?"

The blond and red-head nodded uncertainly. "He was the cool one, right? The one who wanted you to talk to the rest of your family about how you were gay three years ago?" Naruto blurted, forgetting that Fugaku hadn't known about this particular morsel of information.

"Yeah, well… Last year, he started acting a little weird, but I didn't really think much about it because it's Madara, and he has to deal with Tobi and Obito all the time. But a few weeks into the school year… He… He…" Sasuke looked down, biting his lip. He took a deep breath and continued. "He asked me to… have sex with him… And, I said no… But, he didn't want to hear that…" Sasuke swallowed around the lump in his throat. "He told me that he wasn't actually asking and dragged me into the guest house. He threw me on the bed and pushed my face down into the pillows. I was in shock… At first I had thought that he was joking, but then he started tying me to the bed… And I felt like my blood froze in my veins… I'd never had sex with anyone before, let alone a guy, and I wasn't ready… But he didn't care…" Tears started to run down Sasuke's face, and his father lifted him onto the couch next to him and rubbed his head gently.

"Sasuke… You don't have to do this. I'm sure they'll understand if you don't tell them everything right now. We can come back tomorrow and pick up. Right, boys?" Fugaku assured, looking pointedly at Naruto and Gaara.

The duo nodded in understanding, but Sasuke looked up with tear-filled eyes. "I don't want to drag this out… Can't I just get this over with?"

They all nodded except Naruko. She was leaning back into the couch. She knew how the raven was probably faring. She herself had quite the secret penned up inside of her too. But she knew she didn't have the guts to tell anyone. Not yet at least.

Sasuke nodded, picking up where he left off. "He pulled down both of our pants. I tried to beg him to stop, but he covered my mouth with one hand and held me still with the other. I felt him line up, and he started… He didn't do anything special, just pushed in as hard as he could. I screamed in pain and squirmed around, trying to move away, but he just thrust harder and harder into me the more I moved. I could feel the blood streaming down my legs, but I couldn't do anything. He had me trapped. He kept moaning and thrusting until I felt hi shove deep inside of me and I felt him cum. I hated it. I wished I had never been born. I wanted to die…" Sasuke trailed off, trembling in his father's arms. Fugaku took to comforting the raven. Rubbing his back and head and arms until he calmed down enough to continue. "I told him that I would tell someone. That my father and Itachi would kill him, but he just laughed at me and said, 'You won't tell anyone, because who would believe a stupid brat like you? Besides, you deserve it for acting all gay all the time.' I didn't want to believe him, but I did. I started blaming myself for everything that he did to me. Every week he came into my room and dragged me from whatever I was doing down into the guest house. And every week, he told me to suck him off and have sex with him…" Sasuke didn't know how much longer he could talk about this without going insane.

Naruto and Gaara moved closer to the couch, rubbing his legs gently. Gaara wanted nothing more than to go to the Uchiha manor and beat the living pulp out of Madara. There was no forgiving the man for what he had done to Sasuke. It was despicable. Who did that to anyone, let alone such an innocent boy?

Sasuke looked up at his father. "After the school year was over, it became more and more frequent. There was one week where I was dragged away twice a day. Dad and Itachi noticed though with the frequency and confronted Madara about it. Madara said that he was just teaching me some tricks to finishing homework faster. But they didn't buy it and the next time that Madara dragged me away, they followed him and saw what he was doing. Itachi burst in and started beating Madara. He pulled him off of me and told him how worthless he was. Dad couldn't seem to move from the doorway though. He looked as though a bus had just driven through the room. I was too jaded by now and I felt numb. Dad walked in slowly as Itachi called for help and sat on the bed next to me, holding me until paramedics came. Itachi stayed with Madara, promising me that he would come see me as soon as he could."

Naruko glanced over at the boy and sighed inwardly. The boy looked so fragile. She knew that he couldn't feel anything by now. He was too numb from telling the story. She reached over and held the boy's hand in hers. He looked so fragile. She couldn't believe that this boy was one of the Uchihas. She was glad Naruto knew him. They would be good for each other if the truth ever came out.

Sasuke looked down brokenly, "While I was in the hospital, Madara was sent to prison, but apparently, he knew someone in there because he had broken out within two weeks. School was about to start again, and I went to orientation. But when I went to go home, someone attacked me. They beat me, tied me up and blindfolded me before they shoved me into a car. We didn't drive very far, but I was completely disoriented. When they pulled me out, they tied me to a chair. When they took off my blindfold, I felt like I couldn't breathe. Madara was standing in front of me with a vicious smile plastered onto his face." Sasuke paused, almost like he couldn't remember what happened.

Fugaku looked down at his son. "Do you remember what the rest was, Sasuke?" Sasuke looked puzzled. Naruto looked up at him. There was no way. Sasuke couldn't remember what happened to him?

Sasuke looked like he gave up. "I can't remember…"

Fugaku held onto Sasuke. "Should I tell them what I know of the rest?"

Sasuke nodded dumbly. He couldn't figure out how he had forgotten such a horrible thing that happened to him. Everyone around him looked relieved. Had he really looked that bad?

Fugaku smiled down at Sasuke before steeling himself. "We noticed he went missing that night, but we had no clue where. We found his cell phone in the school parking lot. It took us three days to find him in a warehouse across town. When we arrived, Madara had Sasuke chained up and was raping him. Sasuke was barely conscious. We rushed him to a hospital where they found that he had a concussion, broken ribs, and fractures in seven other bones. They also informed us what we knew, that he had been brutally raped, but also that they hadn't fed him anything for the past three days. They kept him for a few weeks to make sure that he would be fine. Unfortunately, Sasuke has never been a very fast healer. We had hopes that he would be able to heal from the bruises, but it seems that the blood hasn't quite clotted completely. He has an appointment with a cardiologist in a week to check on it.

"What about Madara?" Naruto asked, glaring at the carpet.

"He's been detained in a high-security prison across the country." Fugaku assured the blond.

"What comes next then?" Gaara asked, looking up at Sasuke with worry.

Fugaku and Sasuke looked at each other. "We don't actually know. Whatever happens, happens I suppose…" Sasuke replied slowly. "I don't really know what the next step is."

Naruto stood up abruptly, "But there must be–" He was cut off by "Best friend" by Toy Box resonating through the room, and he glared at his sister.

"Hello? *pause* At home with Naru-chan and the guys… *pause, blush spreading* Naru-chan's guys! *pause* No, I'm not fucking them… *pause, sweat drop* They're GAY! *long pause* Okay, okay… Where are you? *pause* Outside?! *Runs to window* Fine… Come on in. *pause* The door's unlocked." And with that she hung up angrily.

The door opened wide and someone yelled, "Little sis! That's very unsafe for you and our cutie little brother!" He walked into the living room and his jaw hit the floor. "I mean… Our little sister…" He looked at Naruko with confusion. "It all makes sense now… That's why you two are Naru's and I'm not!"

She punched his jaw, "What are you, five?! Kyuu-kun, I expected more from you!"

The redhead laughed. He laughed like Naruto, but he had red hair that was spiky towards his scalp but he had two low ponytails that grew straight down to his waist. He was wearing a red flannel shirt like Gaara's but he wasn't wearing anything under it, letting it show off his chest. He had on black skinny jeans that also didn't quite button, but you could see where they were supposed to. "I know, Naru-chan! Naru-kun's just so cute as a girl, isn't he?"

She smiled. "He's a very talented girl. But for what reason are you here exactly?" She seated herself back onto the couch and Kyuubi sat next down on the floor, dragging Naruto onto the floor in front of him. "Mom and Dad kicked me out. They told me to go get a better job. So I started walking this morning and I thought of you guys around seven this morning and ran over!"

Naruto sighed. "You're hopeless Kyuubi! You knew they would do this… You are twenty six now, and Naruko's been working since she turned eighteen four years ago!"

Kyuubi grabbed his little brother, "Yeah, well, she's gonna give me a job as a model now… Cuz I was her original."

Naruko smirked evilly. "Actually, I've been meaning to ask you three to do a favour for me for a while… It'll be even better with a fourth model… I've decided that I'm going to give you all jobs in my company! As my perfect models!"

Naruto looked up at her in confusion, "What do you mean for a while? You just met Sasuke!"

She looked at him, obviously hurt. "Of course I've been spying on you three for years now! He has the perfect expressions I need!"

Naruto's jaw hit the floor. "You're kidding right? You could have told me, you know!" He pouted, "I would have totally given him a better wardrobe years ago!"

Sasuke smiled, "It's just like you to worry about that, Naru-chan…"

"So, when do we start?" Gaara asked sceptically.

"Next week!" She pulled out her phone, "I'm calling your principal right now to inform him of your work schedule the company worked out for you guys!"

"She already scheduled it?" Sasuke asked in confusion.

Gaara and Kyuubi laughed, "So like her…" They said in unison and looked at each other sceptically.

"We should get home, Sasuke…" Fugaku said, starting to get up.

"Actually, that's the thing…" Naruko interrupted.

"What?" He looked across to the blond uneasily.

"I actually need him to stay here if he's going to take the job. His options are to stay in the headquarters dorm or with his sponser, me. The house is big enough. So, it'll be easy to make room for these three." She motioned to Sasuke, Gaara and Kyuubi. "Along with Hina-chan, Sasori-kun, Karin-chan, and Sakura-chan, and whoever her new boyfriend is, that is. Even if some of the boys have to share rooms, it shouldn't be a huge deal."

Gaara looked up, "I thought Temari and Neji were moving in too."

Naruko blushed, "Right! But that's it, I think…" She thought for a bit before nodding, "Yeah, so, twelve people in this house isn't so big of a deal. Especially since the master bedroom is kinda wasted on my one bed…"

Fugaku nodded. "I'll discuss it with Mikoto. When does he have to move in by?"

Naruko sighed, "The sooner the better. I think most everyone's moving in by the end of the week."

Fugaku blanched, "That's in two days!"

"I know, but it's a necessary evil. Sasuke will go home on his off weekends, but he has to be here in case a model falls through. That's how the company works. And starting on the first of September, they'll be evaluated to see if they can make it among the other models." She looked down, "You can hope that he doesn't make it. If that's the case, he'll be dropped and sent back home. He can try again every year, which is what I aim for. I want a one hundred percent rate for my models! Most designers have a twenty-five percent approved rate."

* * *

***Hikari* So, yeah, and stuffs!**

***Asahi* Twelve people in one house!**

***Hikari* It shouldn't be too hectic!**

***Asahi* But who's Sakura's bf?**

***Hikari* I thought you knew!**

***Asahi* You were supposed to know!**

***Staring at Each Other***

***Unison* Not good...**

***Ryota* I know...**

***Hikari* What?!**


	4. The Models

**Hikari* Hello beautiful people!**

**Asahi* We have an update deal for you today!**

**Hikari* …**

**Asahi* …**

**Hikari* -.- Lame…**

**Asahi* -_-' … Oh…**

**Hikari* Enjoy! He's a better writer than he is a sales man. I promise!**

**Asahi* …..**

**With Sasuke**

"I don't want him to leave home so early either, but it's a job, Fugaku, and I can't argue him having some work experience!" Mikoto said softly, addressing her husband tiredly.

"He's more likely to be found! They don't even lock their doors! I don't trust him with them!" Fugaku argued, holding his head in his hands. Sasuke had never seen his father so lost in his life, and he was much more than a little scared. "Not to mention, you didn't see what she had him wearing." He shuddered at the thought, but Sasuke just shrugged.

Just then, Itachi walked through the door with the last person Fugaku probably wanted to see. Fugaku's eyes widened, taking in the sight of Itachi and Sakura Haruno. "Dad, I have something to tell you." He paused, seeing everyone sitting at the table. And all of them looking very serious.

"Itachi… No! No! I won't allow it! Both of my sons? No! No, no, no!" Fugaku exploded, letting out all of his pent up frustrations.

Itachi was taken aback. "So, you were the new recruit? Can't say I'm surprised though. We Uchihas have very strong blood, and are very handsome!" He struck an awkward pose, and Sakura laughed at him a little.

"She chose you because you're handsome, but you don't have to pose!"

Itachi blushed, brushing his hair out of his face. "Not even like this?"

She was drooling, actually drooling. Sasuke looked at her weirdly. "Is she brain-dead, Itachi?" Fugaku ventured to ask.

Sasuke smirked, "Here, I'll check." Sasuke smirked, sliding up behind her and grabbing her waist. Itachi almost protested until Sasuke revealed something very interesting to the older raven that he would never have guessed. The younger Uchiha leaned his head on her shoulder and whispered, "Are you ready to hold the Uchiha's pride, Sakura-chan?" And with that, he began ruthlessly tickling the pinkette.

She squealed loudly and struggled in Sasuke's hands for a bit before Itachi saved her just to tickle her more himself.

Once all of this excitement had passed, Itachi glanced over at his father. "How did you know what I wanted? I don't remember telling anyone. Unless. How did you even know about Sasuke? Have you been stalking him, Dad?"

Fugaku blanched, "Naruko told me when I was over there earlier today. Something about moving in in two days as well. I assume that you knew before now and just didn't bother to mention it at all to any of us?"

"Well, yeah. You wouldn't exactly approve…" Itachi said slowly. "But it works out, because now, I can personally look after Sasu-chan!" He launched himself at his brother, but the younger easily side stepped. "I am perfectly capable of such a thing. As are all of the people he'd be staying with. We'll keep track of him, I swear."

Sakura nodded, "I'm practically a pro at stalking him from before he came out. I can totally keep tabs on him now too."

Fugaku sighed. Neither was a very secure option.

XxX

"I can't believe you talked me into this." Fugaku sighed, looking at the brothers' bags.

"It's not forever. We'll be back periodically." Sasuke reassured, tossing his bags into the trunk of his brother's Ferrari 458.

"I'll miss you, sweetie." Mikoto smiled, hugging both of her sons.

Fugaku nodded. "Keep me updated."

XxX

The Uchiha brothers pulled into the Uzumakis' driveway to find three other cars parked more to the left side. Assumably so that any of the inhabitants could get out at any time. They opted to park a little further back than they probably needed to. But they didn't exactly feel comfortable in such close quarters. The boys unloaded their bags and walked hesitantly into the house, knocking lightly before entering warily.

"Sasuke!" A cute blond they recognised immediately yelled, jumping around the corner. "Everyone's been waiting for you two!"

Sasuke and Itachi looked at each other warily. It was six in the morning, but everyone was already here? That seemed extremely unlikely. They followed the bouncy blond into the living room to see that sure enough, everyone was here and sprawled out in the room. "Wow. That really is everyone…" Itachi said slowly. There was a huge range of people in the room. And Sasuke almost felt intimidated by all of them. None of them were particularly bad looking.

"Naruko! They're here! We can start room assignments!" Naruto bubbled, looking at his sister. Itachi and Sasuke looked sceptically at each other, but didn't say a word. Naruko was a dramatic person, just like her little brother. After all, she had called her brother in sick for school yesterday so that he could help her set up for the big move-in today, but judging by the blond's actions, he was living off of coffee and hot chocolate because they hadn't started until last night.

Naruko smiled brightly, "Good!" She pulled out what looked like floor plans and slammed the down on the coffee table. "Okay, so, we have a slight problem right now with rooms. Namely, that we only have ten rooms to our twelve people. This is a huge issue. Also! I did not think this through at all!"

Sasuke looked at her. How were there ten rooms in this tiny house? Maybe he missed something. Yeah, he just missed that they actually nave another floor. That's all, he hoped.

Karen face palmed and Kyuubi laughed hysterically. "Why cous? What happened that you didn't account for?" Karen asked, holding her head.

Naruko smiled broadly as though she were very proud of her apparent idiot syndrome. "We have a person I wasn't accounting for, first off, and secondly, I was banking on Sakura rooming with Itachi… But I was informed this morning that that is typically not acceptable."

The room fell silent. She's an idiot… The biggest idiot ever. Everyone but Karen and Kyuubi looked toward Naruto as though this explained so much they had never understood. So, stupid must run in the family. Sasuke froze. She said ten rooms… If she's an idiot. Is there a possibility that there aren't actually ten normal bedrooms? He pictured people strewn randomly with air mattresses throughout the entire house, and couldn't help but shudder.

Naruko decided to continue spewing her brain onto the table in front of her. "So, we'll just vote on rooms at this point!" Everyone looked relieved at this solution. Unfortunately, Naruko just kept talking. So, we need two groups of two! I don't care if they're couples or siblings, but it's gotta happen!"

The room looked around at the inhabitants. Finally Sakura rolled over to Itachi and claimed him by wrapping her arms around his right leg. Everyone looked sceptically at them, then, Hinata and Neji moved closer to each other, the former blushing bright red as the latter wrapped his arm around her.

Karen smirked. "Way to take one for the team, guys. Nice effort, really." Everyone rolled their eyes at her sarcastic tone.

Naruko shrugged. "Who gives a fuck as long as they're okay with it? Hinata and Neji are engaged and Itachi and Sakura are in a semi-serious relationship at least. We'll deal with problems as they pop up." Everyone else nodded in agreement. Naruko had a point this time. "Okay, so, rooms. For our two cutie couples, we have the master upstairs and the guest/sleepover room in the basement. So… You two can duke it out for whichever one you want there. Just let me know and stuffs. Uhm… Welp, let's decide by pulling numbers. We can spend all day moving everything in, since I called the school earlier today. So, just leave your shit here I guess."

Everyone was smiling and Itachi and Sakura walked, er, Itachi hobbled, dragging the pinkette after him toward the cute couple.

Sasuke followed the other seven people into the kitchen. Naruko smiled broadly. Gaara looked up when they finally started room assignments. Kyuubi glanced over toward the red head. Everyone could tell he wanted the room closest to Naruto. The question was if he could pull it off.

"Care to explain how this is going to work, Naru-chan?" Kyuubi inquired, leaning against the counter.

"Well, sure! We're gonna number the rooms based on size and floor, starting from the top. For the sake of fairness, Naru-chan and I are going to even put our names in!" She bubbled along easily, bouncing happily on the balls of her feet, causing her long blond pigtails to bounce with her. "And then, we'll have each person draw a room number. No complaining about your assignments! I don't wanna hear it!

**Hikari* Just a bit of clarification here, Neji and Hinata aren't truly related in my fanfic.**

**Asahi* Because we don't like to follow the rules!**

**Hikari* Also, I wanted them to be a normal couple!**

**Asahi* For bg, Hinata is a Hyuuga, and Neji isn't related at all, but he was chosen for his family's close connections to the Hyuuga family when he was three to marry Hinata, and they have grown up around each other and played together all of their lives, knowing that they will at some point get married.**

**Ryota* Told you I knew who Sakura was dating!**

**Hikari* Shoulda had peps guess!**

**Asahi* That'd become horrid!**

**Hikari* Imagine some of those guesses…**

**Ryota* Please review?**

**Asahi* Maybe?**

**Hikari* We hope?**

**Asahi* Until next time…**

**Ryota* Stay awesome…**

**Hikari* And magical…**

**ALL* Byes!**


	5. Room Assignments!

**Hikari* Don't be mad at us?**

**Asahi* Life is hard…**

**Hikari* And this chapter may take extremely long…**

**Asahi* Not that like, any of you care…**

**Hikari* Rude much?**

**Asahi* I'd care about my rudeness if they reviewed more…**

**Hikari* Grow up… We can't help that…**

**Asahi* Thanks to goddess bubbles for the review!**

**Hikari* Enjoy!**

Everyone crowded around the kitchen table. Naruko and Naruto had assigned numbers to each of the other eight rooms. Sasuke looked around the table. Naruto was looking determined to have his old room back, and Gaara wanted nothing more than to be upstairs across from his. Sasuke shrugged. He'd be happy to be away from one of the couples rooms. He didn't know that he wanted to be around that too much.

Naruko smirked. "Temari's up first! Pull a number!"

The younger blonde shivered, pulling a number out of a glass jar. She unfolded it slowly and sighed in relief, "Seven…" She said slowly. She hoped that she was in one of the far rooms in the basement. She definitely didn't want to be too close to any of the drama from the others.

Naruko giggled, scribbling her name down in a small box on her floor plan. "You have the old nursery in the basement! It's actually an okay room. It's right between the laundry room and the bathroom!"

Temari sighed, Sasuke smiled reluctantly at the poor senior. It was obvious that she was dreading the room next to the bathroom the way she deflated after it was announced. Naruko happily shoved the jar in Karin's direction, "You next, Karin-chan!"

The red-head smirked, pulling out a slip next and unfolding it, "Four. Is that good?"

The blonde bubbled happily. You're in Naru-chan's old room! Congratulations!" She scribbled more on the sheet before pulling out her own slip. She squealed in excitement, "I'm rooming across from you, Karin! Ohmigod! I'm sooo excited!" She quickly wrote something else on her paper before turning to Kyuubi and handing him the jar.

He looked at it before slowly pulling out a slip for himself. "Five… Don't tell me…"

She smirked, "Right next to the sleepover room. The biggest single one in the basement. I'm sure you'll be comfortable there, cous…" She wrote his name on her sheet before handing the jar to Sasori

Sasori reluctantly drew his piece of paper and smiled, "Ten. Smallest room…"

Naruko smiled, "You share a wall with Temari, and consequently, that bathroom. Sorry if it's a bit cramped…"

Sasori shrugged, "Cramped is fine by me…"

Naruto was bouncing so much he looked like a mix of excitement and an I-really-have-to-pee dance. "I'm next, right, Naru-chan?"

The older blonde sighed, "Yes, Naru-chan… You are… Just pull a number before I decide to pull one for you."

The younger reached into the jar and unravelled his piece of paper. "Six… I got six! Yes!" He stuck out his tongue at his sister. "I'm in the far corner by the bathroom!"

Naruko shook her head, handing the jar to Sasuke. He pulled one reluctantly and unravelled his slowly. "Nine… Whatever that means…"

Naruto jumped over to Sasuke. "We share a wall, Sasuke! This is gonna be awesome!"

Naruko tried her best to ignore her brother as she turned to Gaara, "So that means that you're eight and you share a wall with Sasuke."

Gaara smiled. "Great! I can hardly wait, Sasuke."

Naruko clapped her hands just as Itachi hobbled in with Sakura still on his leg to tell her that the two couples had decided on Itachi and Sakura in the master and the Hyuugas in the sleepover room.

Naruko finally wrote down all the names before she smiled excitedly. "Okay, everyone, to the living room!"

We were all herded back and seated around the small coffee table where Naruko revealed her poor drawings of the house with names scrawled over the rooms. Everyone looked at it for a while, wondering why she was showing us this.

Naruko answered us shortly afterwards, "Everyone, to your rooms! Reconvene in half an hour with anything that you notice you need. It can be absolutely anything! We'll go buy furniture afterwards. I'm positive there aren't enough beds if nothing else…"

Everyone took one last look before grabbing their bags and heading towards their rooms. Sasuke, Gaara and Naruto rounded a corner in the basement to see four plain doors. Gaara looked toward the other two. "Why don't we spend ten minutes in each room? It's plenty of time, isn't it?"

Sasuke smirked, "Why not? We'll start with your room, Gaara, seeing as it's the closest…"

Naruto pouted, "No way! I don't wanna lug my bags through two rooms!"

Gaara smiled, "Then we'll drop off our bags and start in Naruto's room, I guess."

Sasuke smiled back, "Whatever the princess wants, I suppose." Gaara laughed while Naruto huffed his way down the hall. Gaara and Sasuke dropped their bags inside their doors and followed Naruto to his room. Once they were inside his room, they thought that the trio's rooms were about the same size, until they didn't see Naruto and realized the room was an L shape rather than a rectangle. The boys peeked around the corner to see Naruto bent over into a closet. The blond stood up to turn around and noticed the duo gawking at him.

Naruto smiled broadly, "I found some paper! So that we can write out what we need in our rooms!"

The two smiled back at him, "Yeah, that'll be great, Naru-chan." Gaara jeered while Sasuke snickered.

The blond stuck out his tongue in response and looked around, writing down what he needed. The other two smiled at their blond friend. He was easy to make fun of, and they loved that he had such a temper. Soon though, Naruto was done and the trio moved on to Sasuke's room. Sasuke's room was actually almost empty. All it had was a desk and a dresser. Naruto hurriedly wrote down everything the poor raven could ever want, but not necessarily need. They hastily moved on to Gaara's room which had only a bed and Sasuke couldn't help but feel jealous of the red-head. At least he had somewhere comfy to sleep, but on further inspection, the bed didn't seem too sturdy, and Sasuke couldn't help but think about the noises the bed itself would add to people having sex in it.

The trio sat down on the unstable bed and it let out an unhealthy creaking noise. The boys laughed, and pushed each other only to hear more unhealthy squeaks and creaks. The three laughed uncontrollably and slowly made their way upstairs. They could hardly breathe when they flopped on the living room floor, still hysterical. Naruto weakly handed Naruko his cheat sheet to their missing furniture.

She looked at him with confusion until he managed to choke out, "Add a new bed to Gaara's… That think squeals more than a pig in heat!"

"Watch it, Naru-chan, you were conceived on that bed. Naru-chan got it as a housewarming gift from our parents when she left. Actually, as far as I know, Mom was conceived in that bed too," Kyuubi warned slowly.

The three just kept laughing. "It's like the blanket from The Proposal! Dude, that's nasty!" Gaara exclaimed.

Naruko blushed, "We're gonna have to send that bed back or hide it away…"

Neji shrugged, "Just hide it somewhere and only take it out if they come over. It'll be fine. That way, Gaara doesn't have to sleep on it."

Naruko blushed, pulling out a big whiteboard from behind the sofa. It looked like it had once been used often, but had been behind that sofa for too long. "Okay, let's see, how should we do this?" She thought for a bit before she stood it up vertically and started by writing 'Bed' in nice cursive letters. "How many people need beds, raise your hands." Naruko looked up from her board to see that pretty much everyone needed a bed. It made sense she supposed since there were previously only two people in the house. "So… Eight of those… What else?"

Neji raised his hand, "I don't know about anyone else, but Hina-chan and I need at least one desk…"

Some others nodded at this. Naruko looked like she was at a loss. She pulled an eraser off the back of the board. "This isn't working for me…"

Everyone thought for a while before Kyuubi took the board from his sister's hands. "What if we just write down the basic necessities? Like, Bed, Nightstand, Dresser, Armoire, Desk, Computer Chair, and Bookshelves. Then anything extra, as we pass it around, they add it and a tally mark for everything needed. After it gets back to Naru-chan, we can vote on importance of the items added in the room." Kyuubi turned the board around to present nicely printed item names.

Everyone seemed to agree to this idea. Itachi looked around the circle as the board was handed on and started to circulate through them all. "While we're doing this, maybe we should introduce ourselves? Because I just realized how few of you I know…"

Naruko blinked, looking around. "Yeah, why not? We can make a game out of this… While the board's going around, we'll go the opposite way to share something about ourselves. How's that sound? Your name must be stated first and that can't be the only thing you say." Everyone seemed okay with this, so she smiled, "I'll start then, I'm Naruko Uzumaki, and I'm Naruto's and Kyuubi's sister! And I'm technically your boss!"

Hinata smiled, "I'm Hinata Hyuuga, and I'm a sophomore at Konoha High. I'm also engaged to Neji-kun."

Neji smirked, "I'm Neji Hyuuga, I'm a junior at Konoha High, and I'm engaged to Hina-chan."

Karin smiled confidently, "I'm Karin Uzumaki, I'm a junior at Konoha High, and I'm Naruko's, Naruto's and Kyuubi's cousin."

Temari blushed slightly, "I'm Temari Sabaku. I'm Gaara's older sister, a senior at Konoha High, and a huge fan of Naruko's."

Sasori looked up boredly, "I'm Sasori Akasuna. I'm a freshman at Akatsuki College, and I'm… Actually not related to any of you… Damn. Talk about an outcast. I was in an art class with Naruko her senior year and my ninth grade year since I was taking sophomore art at the time."

Gaara smirked, "I'm Gaara Sabaku. I'm a sophomore at Konoha High, I'm gay, and I'm Temari's little brother."

Naruto smiled broadly, "I'm Naruto Uzumaki! I'm a sophomore at Konoha High, I'm gay, and I'm Naruko and Kyuubi's little brother!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes, "I'm Sasuke Uchiha… I'm a sophomore at Konoha High, I'm gay, and I'm Itachi's little brother who kicks his ass any day."

Itachi launched at his brother, "That's not very nice Sasu-chan!" Sasuke easily slid forward, and his brother grabbed Naruto instead, causing everyone else to laugh. The Uchiha sat up dejectedly, "I'm Itachi Uchiha. I'm a sophomore at Akatsuki College, I'm dating Sakura, and I'm Sasuke's older brother."

Sakura stroked the older Uchiha's hair while he moped. "I'm Sakura Haruno. I'm a sophomore at Konoha High, I'm dating Itachi, and I'm… Not actually related to anyone here… Sasori's not alone I guess… Not really since I has Itachi…"

Kyuubi looked oddly at the pinkette. "I'm Kyuubi Kurama. I'm Naruto and Naruko's brother, I'm a bum for a living... And… I'm pretty much worthless most of the time… But I like to make fun of my cute little Narus's!"

The whiteboard was almost all the way around when Sasori looked at Kyuubi oddly. "So… How come you're a Kurama, but Naruto and Naruko are Uzumakis?"

Kyuubi looked up, "Kurama's just the name I've always had. I know that I'm Minato and Kushina's child because of creepy home videos, but that's what I got… I dunno. I think it was like a family tradition or something because I'm the first son to them. Something about a legacy." Kyuubi waved the notion away as though he didn't care too much.

Naruko jumped up just then, and copied the whiteboard contents onto a shopping list. "I've decided! I'm going to buy a van! That way everyone can make trips in the same car! I'm gonna run and order everything, then I'll be back and we can head to your first gig!"

**Hikari* Okay, so we thought that this one and the next one were gonna be together, but then it didn't happen that way…**

**Asahi* So this is your lucky day…**

**Hikari* We just split it and we're putting both up on the same day!**

**Asahi* Maybe you aren't so happy with that, but we are…**

**Hikari* So review and we'll work harder in the future!**

**Asahi* Maybe?**


	6. Starting From The Bottom

**Hikari* Hope you enjoy this chapter!**

The trio were sitting squished together. Naruko had actually done it. She had bought a van, which we were now stuffed into in order to make our way to the first round of auditions. Sasuke looked across at Naruto and Gaara, but neither of the two looked very nervous for their first job auditions. Naruto looked back at the raven, "Hey, teme, it's not as bad as you think it's gonna be."

Sasuke glared at the blond, "And how would you know, dobe?"

The boy blushed bright red and Gaara smirked, "Naruko already tried to get him in as a female model under the name Nariko. He actually succeeded too, until they wanted to do lingerie and they figured it out. He was twelve at that time. It took them half a year to realize he wasn't a she."

Hinata glanced back at the trio, "That's r-really unfortunate… N-Naruto-kun…"

Naruto shrugged, "At least I know what I'm doing, I guess…"

Karin turned around, "Yeah, so you better give us some pointers so that we all make it, Naruto!"

Naruto stuck his nose in the air, "What if I don't wanna?!"

Sasuke laughed as the duo erupted into a mini war over if Naruto should help or not.

Naruko turned into a large parking lot. After she had parked, she stood and turned to face us, a wide grin on her face, "So, the good news is that none of you have to cross-dress this year! But I want all of you on your best behavior, even if another designer's model makes fun of you or something else that would get not only you in trouble but everyone else. I want all of the girls off first to talk to them in private!"

The girls shrugged and stepped off the bus. All of the boys sat there, whispering and muttering about what could be happening. The four slowly returned to their seats looking very dejected before Naruko followed, "I bet you boys are wondering what that was all about! I've been told that the judges for the first round are extremely strict this year and so, we are 'banning' couples."

Everyone stared at her like she was crazy except Kyuubi, "It makes sense. After all, as a first-time model, it's hard to act natural when they pair you with someone else for couple shots. They won't want to act all lovey-dovey if they're worried about how their partner will react."

Hinata slowly raised her hand, "So, does this mean that I have to take off my ring?"

Naruko thought about it, "How about we vote? Hinata keeps the ring on?" Neji, Hinata, Temari, Sakura, Naruto and Karen raised their hands. "Hinata takes it off?" Kyuubi, Sasuke, and Itachi raised their hands. Naruko frowned, "Gaara, Sasori, why didn't you two vote?"

Sasori looked at her, "I think it's up to the designer whether it goes with the outfit or not."

Gaara shrugged, "I think it should be decided based on the pairing. If she's alone or partnered with Neji then she should be able to wear it, but if she's posing with me, I'd rather she didn't based on how people might view her."

Naruko thought for a while, "Makes sense! I agree with Sasori and Gaara! If it goes with the outfit and the context, she can wear the ring, but otherwise, I don't wanna see it. Deal?"

Everyone agreed, it was only fair. They all piled off the van, eager to stretch their legs, and crowded around the van. Naruko disembarked last and led everyone around to the back of the van to collect their pre-packed outfits. Sasuke happened to know that she collected everyone's measurements and had worked almost non-stop to finish them on time. Each person was responsible for their outfit. Naruko said that they could keep them if they liked them. Naruko led the way into the building. Apparently, she'd entered herself into the next level of modeling when she had signed the others up. Once inside the building, it didn't seem anywhere near as monstrous as it was from the outside. Naruko followed the signs up a set of stairs to a table with a sign that read 'Model and Co. Entrance.'

"Hello, Naru-chan, how can we help you?" asked a petite blue-haired girl with amber eyes and a ball stud in her lower lip. She was wearing a black halter top with red trim, a black pleated miniskirt with red tool poking out from underneath and black ankle heels.

"I'm here to enter my models of course!" Naruko gushed, motioning to her eleven groupies.

Konan looked us each over before she smirked, "I dunno, Naruko… You say you want them all to pass, but I'm not so sure…" She stood up and walked around, Gaara took note of her belly button piercing and tattoo of a pair of stark white wings on her back.

Naruko scoffed, "Yeah, well, uncle Jiraiya may have snatched you, Nagato and Yahiko up before me, but I will not lose any more beautiful people!"

The blue-haired woman smiled, "Yes, ma'am! Honestly, I wish you would've been the one to recruit us… Jiraiya's a bit of a… perv."

The duo continued to talk about Jiraiya's opinions of female clothing as Konan showed us to the dressing rooms. Konan turned around suddenly to look straight at Kyuubi, "Hey, isn't that…?"

Naruko stopped, turning around to be plowed into by a distracted Sasori and Temari. She didn't pay any attention to them as they fell backwards on their butts. "Who? Kyuubi? He's my older brother… He practically begged me to let him be a model again…"

Konan clearly wasn't paying attention though. Her eyes were glued to Kyuubi. "He's cute…" she whispered. It was barely audible, but it caught the red-head's attention and he smirked at the girl, pushing between Sasuke and Gaara to wrap his arm around her waist.

"Hey beautiful, I hope I get to see more of you. What do you say?" She blushed bright red before he broke out in laughter. All of the girls were glaring at him and Konan looked like she was about to cry. He blinked, "Sorry, darling, but I'm kinda stuck on someone right now…" He glanced toward Temari. "Sorry if I went overboard…"

The blue-haired girl shook her head, she knew what that was like… After both Nagato and Yahiko had come out, she had been left empty. She could let this go. "Well, anyway, are any of you uncomfortable changing in front of the same sex?"

Neji went to raise his hand, but Hinata elbowed him hard in the ribs, whispering, "Don't be such a narcissistic baby. They aren't into you!"

Konan blinked a few times before looking at the crowd of people and ushering them into both into their respective dressing rooms. "Just change into whatever Naruko's picked out for you for now, okay?"

Gaara looked at her questioningly, "For now?"

Konan blinked, "You showcase your natural ability in this first round, then in the second round, you'll be given a different outfit which you'll have to showcase your modeling abilities."

Temari shrugged, "Just smile for the judges, right?"

Konan smirked, "Pretty much!"

Naruko smiled, "You'll all be fine!" Konan gathered us all in a circle. "The judges were talking about either semi-formal or swimsuits! You guys will look amazing!"

Naruko smiled, "Everyone get dressed and meet back out here as soon as possible!" Konan left quickly and everyone piled into the dressing rooms.

Naruto, Gaara and Sasuke were the first to be dressed and exited the dressing room hastily. Naruto looked around before pulling the other two after him and leaning against a wall with them. They were telling jokes and laughing when two boys walked up to them. One had magenta eyes and silver hair that was combed neatly back, and was wearing a loose open front hoodie that showed off his chest and grey skinny jeans on. The other was wearing a bandana as a mask with a ripped black tank top on. He was covered from head to toe in scars and had dark brown hair and emerald green eyes.

"Hey, look at the fucking faggot trying to entertain his friends! What a fucking loser!" The silver haired one exclaimed.

Gaara's eyes narrowed, "Who are you talking about, Mr. Narcissist?"

The silver jeered at the redhead, "Your faggoty faggot little blond fucker."

Sasuke smirked, "Funny, I thought you were talking about yourself."

The boy glared, "Why would you think that?"

Naruto looked up, "Because we're all gay, and we are entertained." He pointed to the brunette, "Unlike your friend seems to be."

The brunette shrugged and started to pull the other boy away from the trio before he turned around, "Sorry to bother you three. My friend's an idiot poorly disguised as a model." And with that, he left.

They turned around to see everyone from their group staring at them. Naruko rushed over, "You were so mature, my little Naru-chan!" She pulled back, "But we have to go to the auditorium now for your introduction to modeling."

They walked in and sat down just as the MC popped up from a smoke cover.

"Oh Mylanta! Is that Gai-sensei?" Sakura asked in confusion.

Naruko nodded, "Last year was Kakashi-sensei."

Gai explained how modeling would be done and that he would announce who was up. They would approach the stage and be allowed to step on stage in any manner they pleased, but that the judges would be judging them on their performance. They would be called by their registered name and designer sponsor. Once they were on stage, they had to act as though they were posing for a photo shoot. When the judges have seen enough, they would be informed and the next person was to approach. The judges would then deliberate on who will move on during the next level's performances. Without at least one judge who wants you as a model, you will not proceed to the next round. "First up is… Sakura Haruno represented by Naruko Uzumaki!"

Naruko nodded at Sakura who slipped in her headphones and danced her way up to the stage. She was wearing a 3 Doors Down black t with the left hem and arm missing completely. It was tied with light pink ribbon to match her hair at the armpit and the hip. She had a blood red cami underneath and a black, red and white plaid skirt. Her tight black leggings had slices in the thighs, calves and knees and she had black combat boots tied with pink and red laces. Her hair was pulled into neat little pigtails and she had clip in black streaks and two pretty lace bows. She easily flipped onto the stage and danced and posed, smiling and lip synching the lyrics to whatever song she was listening to. Soon, she was released, and everyone clapped.

"Next up is, Itachi Uchiha also represented by Naruko Uzumaki!" Itachi stood up slowly, calmly pulling out his phone as though he had urgent business to attend to. At first, the judges were obviously skeptical, but as he calmly climbed the stairs with his briefcase, they understood and allowed him to continue. He was wearing more of a business casual that Naruko had chosen for him. He had a loosely buttoned dress shirt, a loose blood red tie, black dress pants and black leather shoes. He easily acted as he used to when he was an intern at the family company and they excused him after about four poses.

"Next is Neji Hyuuga represented by Naruko Uzumaki!" Neji skulked up to the stage and lazily hopped onto the stage. He was wearing a grey graphic t, black skinny jeans, a dark blue zip up hoodie, dark blue vans and a black skull bandana with his hair in a low ponytail. He slouched across the stage where he continued to look completely disinterested in three poses before being sent back.

"Our fourth is a lovely little lady by the name of Hinata Hyuuga represented by Naruko Uzumaki." Hinata straightened her back and stalked up to the stage, she stood with her back to the wall before easily rolling over her shoulder onto the stage. The judges gasped as she landed on her feet and tilted her head to the right cutely. She was sporting black doll shoes, tights, and a pleated miniskirt of the same colour along with a grey long sleeved shirt under a black and pink lace t with a thick black headband that almost blended in with her pink streaked indigo hair pulled back into a high ponytail. The girl easily held herself in a mixture of shy, cute and standoffish poses. The judges watched her for a long time before they finally released her back to her seat. As she sat down, Neji hooked his pinky around hers and squeezed it tightly.

"Next is Naruto Uzumaki represented by Naruko Uzumaki!" Naruto jumped up and ran down the aisle to the stage, jumping on and skidding across it to a halt. He was wearing an orange hoodie, a blue club shirt, a rainbow checkered seatbelt belt, black skinny jeans and baby blue vans. He hopped around hyperactively for about three minutes until the judges dismissed the whirlwind.

There were a few other contestants here before Gai called out, "Karin Uzumaki, represented by Naruko Uzumaki!" Karin strutted up onto the stage, flaunting everything and anything she had. She was wearing a royal blue utu with grey tights and black ballet flats. On her hands were two white fishnet fingerless gloves. She was also wearing a black mid-sleeve fishnet shirt and a light grey loose sweater t. Her normally bright red hair had a black bow on the left side and was streaked with blue. She playfully posed for the judges before one nodded to her.

Gai looked speechless before calling the next contestant, "Kyuubi Kurama, sponsored by Naruko Uzumaki!"

Kyuubi was leaning back in his seat until his name was called. He looked up irritably and stalked up to the stage. He almost looked edible with his hair pulled half back lazily. He looked absolutely flawless in his black leather jacket with a red netted shirt under it, exposing his washboard abs to the crowd. He also wore blood red skinny jeans that nicely hugged his butt and black combat boots with red laces. One of the judges blushed as he leaned against the stage. He didn't even need to mount it before he was dismissed.

There were three other contestants called before yet another from the group was called, "Temari Sabaku, represented by Naruko Uzumaki!"

Sasori looked up and didn't take his eyes off the blonde as she made her way up the aisle. Her usual spikey hair was calmed into pretty curls with purple streaks carefully intertwined. She wore a knee-length black and purple laced tiered skirt that fit her fairly well, the redhead thought. She also had a black shirt with lavender pleats at the breasts, which were practically exploding out from the shirt and at the bottom of it where it showed a slight bit of her belly. She also had on grey tights, black combat boots and a black and lavender chocker. The judges looked at her while she leaned against the stage looking extremely bored for a few seconds before sending her back to her seat.

"Gaara Sabaku, represented by Naruko Uzumaki!" The redhead sighed, lurching out of his seat. He wore red skinny jeans that had no button and black vans with red laces. His hair had black tips that would be cut off after this round and he had black fishnets and wore an unbuttoned red and black flannel shirt over it. He didn't even make it onto the stage before the judges excused him and he sighed angstily and returned to his seat, flopping down as though it had taken all of his energy.

"Ha! Fucking overdramatic pussy! What? Your gay buddies not giving you anything worth while?" The entire group turned to watch the silver-haired ass from before strutting up the aisle. "Serves you right, fucker." He sat down in the row behind them, leaning back in the seat.

"Sasuke Uchiha, sponsored by Naruko Uzumaki!" Sasuke smirked at the boy, standing and sauntering up the aisle. He ore baggy grey-blue jeans, red DCs, an open red hoodie and a grey ripped tank under it. He used his left hand to hoist himself up and posed for a few minutes before being excused.

Gai called three more people up before he finally reached Sasori. "Our final new model, Sasori Akasuna sponsored by Naruko Uzumaki!" Sasori stood up slowly, stalking up to the stage. He was wearing black nets under a grey ripped t, black skinny jeans with the seams completely left out on the outer sides threaded with red ribbon and a pair of red converse. He looked hot. He usually wore baggy clothes that didn't do him any justice at all, but Naruko had done an amazing job. He only made it halfway up the aisle before one of the judges stopped him.

"Can you just stop where you are and turn in a circle for me?" He had dark spikey hair, and Sasuke swore he remembered him from somewhere. Sasori looked skeptical, but complied, spinning slowly for the man. He waved to the boy, "Back to your seat."

The room was filled with whispers. This didn't normally happen apparently.


	7. Groupies

**Hikari* So, if anyone's looking at this wondering what changed, it's just some of the ages because they didn't make sense. Sorry for anyone looking for an update, not today, but hopefully soon**

The judges then turned to the humming group of people, the woman speaking up, "I am Kurenai, to my right is Yamato and my left Zabuza. As Gai said earlier today, you must get at least one of us to want you as a model, that being said, if you do not receive the mentor you want, you do not have to feel obliged to stay and work futher. You will train for your first year under both the mentor you choose and your sponser. We will be posting the names outside momentarily. Please keep in mind that you may not be chosen, but it does not mean that you are not cut out to be a model. We have a lot of good candidates this year and more than half of you will be cut today. We hope to see all those who did not make it next year. Please exit in an orderly fashion, the next level's auditions will begin at the next half hour mark. Those of you that make it to the next round will be asked to be back here in about an hour for your decisions." With that, the trio handed their pages to Gai who took them gladly and made his way outside.

"So we just make our way out for a bit to see the results. Don't feel pressured to choose a judge that you don't want." Naruko reminded, leading the group out of the hall.

Everyone came back after glancing at the sheets. All of them had at least two judges to choose from. Kurenai had chosen Sakura, Itachi, Hinata, Karin, Temari, Gaara, Sasuke and Sasori. Yamato on the other hand had chosen Itachi, Neji, Naruto, Temari, Gaara, Sasuke and Sasori. Finally Zabuza had wanted Sakura, Neji, Hinata, Naruto, Karin, Kyuubi, Temari, Gaara and Sasori. They all met back close to the door, trying to decide who would choose who.

The couples wanted to stay together as much as possible so they chose their common judge. Soon we had made up our minds and went back into the auditorium to watch Naruko's performance for the fourth tier judges.

Just as they all sat down, Gai began to announce, "The fourth tier model auditions will now begin! A reminder to all parties that the designs should be based on performing! We will start with Konan Tenshi sponsored by Jiraiya Sannin! Konan had changed her clothes to a cute white baby dress that had a lace yoke that reached her upper thigh. She had a beautiful origami rose on her white headband and white pointe shoes with long ribbons tied at her ankles and up her legs into her dress. She walked slowly onto the stage before doing an aerial that showed the blood red tool that was layered under the skirt and on the soles of her shoes. The judges quickly dismissed her and when she got back to her seat, Sasuke noticed a white-haired man wrap his arm around the back of her seat and whisper something to her to which she flipped him off.

Gai continued, "Next we have Hidan Jashin sponsored by – "

Kurenai cut Gai off ferociously, "Hidan Jashin has been dropped from the company due to inappropriate behaviour! He will no longer be permitted to work here and must leave the property at once!"

"Excuse me? I don't fucking think I fucking heard you right toots! Who the fuck are you to make such a decision?" The silver haired man inquired.

"It's not her decision, but mine." Jiraiya stood as he began. "You have five infractions on your record for harassment of not only fellow models, but judges and sponsors. As such, we're dropping you as a model."

Hidan growled, "And who the hell are you?"

Jiraiya smirked, "I'm the owner. All that you see I've built myself, so get out now. I don't want my little angels to have to kick you out."

Hidan smirked, "What angels? I don't see a single one!"

Konan stood slowly, "Oh, don't you?" She was obviously seething as she danced her way over to him and, smiling, kicked his head hard. He fell to the ground with a loud thud, "Now get out of here!"

The same male from earlier sighed, grabbing him by the hair, "I'm seriously sorry for this buffoon. I will escort him out." Again the male dragged his friend off, chastising him as they went.

Gai continued hesitantly, "Naruko Uzumaki sponsored by… Naruko Uzumaki!" Jiraiya seated himself and Naruko skipped up to the stage. She wore a neon pink off the shoulder sweater that had the entire left side cut out and tied with neon green lace that hung down and mingled with her highlighter yellow miniskirt with the right hem cut out to reveal orange spanks and was loosely laced with red ribbon. She had vibrant purple tights on that met with bright blue ballet flats. Her bouncy hair had rainbow streaks in it and they were pulled into twin braids that swayed when she walked. She jumped onto the stage and bounced like she was trying to excite a crowd before she was dismissed.

When she returned to her seat, she smiled at the others cutely. Gai announced a few more names before wrapping up the fourth tier group, and Naruko walked over and started up a conversation with Konan while the rest of them chose their groups. Sakura, Itachi, Hinata, Neji, Temari and Sasori chose Kurenai, Karin, and Kyuubi chose Zabuza and Naruto, Gaara and Sasuke chose Yamato.

There were only a few other models that reconvened at the auditorium. One was named Haku, who had changed into his street clothes and was apparently one of the three people today that received an offer from each of the three judges and was Zabuza's own personal recruit through one of the other sponsors. There were even rumours that they were in a relationship together. Another chose Yamato, His name was Sai and he looked quite a bit like Sasuke and was Jiraiya's recruit. There was a girl that joined Kurenai's named Anko who was also Jiraiya's recruit.

Each group then set about to train their groups, thankful that they didn't need a thinning round due to the small amount of recruits that actually managed to stay this far. And the groups each went their separate ways. The groups would meet up at four to send the recruits on their way.

**With Kurenai's Group**

The group headed back to Kurenai's studio to work with her group. "Okay, so we're going to eat first, but while we do so, I want to know about each of you. Namely, you personally. I need to know what I have to work with. Your relationships, your hobbies, likes and dislikes, even lifestyle. I want to know everything. None of you will be judged by me on the information you give here, but I have to know to get you the right gigs." As they sat around the table, she said, "I'll even give you an example with myself. I am Kurenai, I'm 32 years old. I'm married to Asuma Sarutobi. I enjoy reading, modelling and acting, and I hate people who don't listen to what they are told to do." She then looked to Sakura who had her hand raised, "Yes, Sakura?"

"Uhm, I'm confused. Naruko told us not to mention our relationships… So why…?"

Kurenai smiled, "I don't know how the other judges work, but I do know that she trained under Jiraiya-sama himself who doesn't like to judge with a bias, so she may have wanted you to keep it secret from those with prying eyes." She explained it so nicely, and it did make sense, but Sakura and Hinata looked at each other sceptically.

Sakura sighed, "I'm Sakura Haruno, and I'm 15. I'm dating Itachi Uchiha. I enjoy swimming, reading and fashion. I absolutely hate people who are blockheads."

Kurenai looked around the table. She thought that Sakura had meant that she was dating someone outside of the modelling agency. Now she understood why Naruko had warned her group about spilling their relationships. To many it would seem like a downfall, especially if it proved a weakness on camera. She just hoped these teens were smart about their battles. She was in her thirties and still couldn't decide what battles to pick with Asuma.

Itachi looked up, "I'm Itachi Uchiha, and I'm 20. I'm dating Sakura Haruno. I enjoy reading and cooking, and I hate when people state their opinions as though they are facts."

Anko looked around. "God, I feel out of place… I'm Anko Mitarashi, and I'm 20. I'm dating Shino Aburame. I enjoy dancing and acting. I hate when people don't notice me."

Hinata smiled, "I'm Hinata Hyuuga, and I'm 15…" She trailed off, blushing, "And… I'm engaged to Neji Hyuuga. I enjoy reading and singing. I hate when people underestimate me."

Neji wrapped his arm around Hinata, "I'm Neji Hyuuga, and I'm 16. I'm engaged to Hinata Hyuuga. I enjoy reading and listening to music, and I hate when people are know-it-alls."

Temari sighed, "I'm Temari Sabaku, and I'm 17. I'm not dating anyone. I enjoy dancing and having fun, but I hate when people have heads so big if you poke them they fall over."

Sasori nodded, glancing sheepishly at Temari, which did not go unnoted by Kurenai. "I'm Sasori Akasuna, and I'm 18. I'm not dating anyone. I enjoy carving and reading. I hate all idiotic people.

Kurenai smiled, "All of you are very interesting. Thank you for choosing me as your mentor.

**With Yamato's Group**

The group exited the auditorium and headed the opposite way from Kurenai's group. When the four boys stepped into Yamato's studio, they didn't see anything worth writing home about. It was all the same things that Naruko had in hers.

"We're going to eat first, and we'll introduce ourselves. When you do you have to say at least one thing about yourself." Yamato stated

The trio smirked at each other. Piece of cake.

They all crowded around the table and began to eat. Yamato looked around at the boys. "I'm Yamato and I don't appreciate liars."

Naruto nodded, "I'm Naruto! I'm gay and Gaara, Sasuke and I have been friends for twelve years."

Sasuke leaned back, "I'm Sasuke. I'm also gay and I'm not going to crossdress… No matter what these idiots or Naruko say, I'm not doing it!

Gaara smirked, "I'm Gaara. You may have guessed by now, I'm gay as well, and Sasuke does look really girly and perfect as a crossdresser… But we must all remember that Naruto… I mean, Nariko made it 6 months as a female model previously. Oh, and I'm an ass to my friends."

Sai neither laughed nor smiled, "I'm Sai. I'm gay, and I'm adopted."

Yamato stared at the four boys, "How did we manage this one? Four homosexual individuals… In one group…"

**With Zabuza's group**

The duo waited around the table for Zabuza to reappear. He had pulled Haku aside twenty minutes ago and had yet to return. Kyuubi finally ventured to talk to his cousin. "What do you think they're doing?"

Karin smirked, "Oh, sweetheart, I don't think that you want to know…"

Just then they heard a loud squeal come from Zabuza's smaller office. Kyuubi's curiosity got the better of him and he snuck over to confirm his suspicions. The other duo had left the door open a crack and the red head could see the couple breathing heavily. He didn't have to be a genius to know that they had just had sex in said office due to the lack of clothing. He scurried back to the table with Karin and waggled his eyebrows.

Karin nodded, noting the rumour's truth and storing the information away carefully. The two emerged soon after and seated themselves at the table. Zabuza nodded at the duo. "We're going to go around the table and introduce ourselves before telling the group why you auditioned. Haku, start us off."

Haku blushed, "I'm Haku and I decided to audition because a close friend of mine told me I would be a good model."

Kyuubi looked oddly at the boy next to him. "I'm Kyuubi and I'm here because my parents kicked me out, so I begged my baby sister for a job."

Karin scoffed, "Begged isn't the term I'd use… You told Naruko-nee that you were gonna be a model for her the second you got here!" She rolled her eyes, "I'm Karin and I'm here because Naruko told me she wasn't losing any more of her beautiful relatives to Uncle Jiraiya…"

Zabuza looked at the red-headed duo, but shrugged off is suspicions in favour for lunch.


	8. Surprise

Around 5:30 pm

Kurenai led her group back to the auditorium to meet up with the other trainers before being allowed to return home. Once in the auditorium, she noticed Naruko chatting with Konan and Jiraiya, so she decided now was as good a time as any. "Naruko, could I talk to you for a moment?"

The blonde turned uneasily, wondering what the idiots had done, "Of course, Kurenai!"

Once the duo left the room, Kurenai cleared her throat, "Naruko, I know that you're probably aware of this by now, but, just in case, the Hyuugas and Itachi and Sakura… Well, they're…"

Naruko sighed, "Look Kurenai, I told them not to tell their mentors about their relationships, but you obviously said something contrary to make them say something, so spill, what do you wanna do about it? They promised me they would be professional about it, but if you feel uncomfortable…"

Kurenai blinked, "I don't want them to stop by any means, and I suppose it's my fault that they told me because I said that I wanted to know everything. I just worried about how willing they were to work with other people."

Naruko smiled broadly, "As long as you don't make them do lovey dovey poses with Sasuke, Naruto or Gaara, we should be fine!"

Kurenai was completely thrown off by this, "Why is that?"

Naruko smiled, "Those three are gay, and they've never worked with girls before. When they helped me, Naruto and Sasuke always cross dressed."

Kurenai bit her lip, trying not to laugh, "Now I know why Yamato looked so uncomfortable. It's common knowledge that all of Jiraiya's male models are gay. He has an excellent gaydar there."

Naruko rolled her eyes in annoyance. "He tried to recruit Naruto right before he came out… His accuracy is 100 percent…"

Kurenai laughed, "I suppose we had better head back into the auditorium. We're going to announce our next move."

Kurenai mounted the stage to stand in front of Yamato and Zabuza, gaining all of the recruits' attention. "Your first day has been successful! However, this is only the beginning! Your second test will be on Monday morning bright and early! You must be present at the company in your first outfit and in this room no later than 6:30! Tardiness will result in immediate termination of your place in the program! We'll see you all in two days!"

Naruko and the rest of their group headed back to their van. As the group pulled into the driveway, Naruko stood from her seat, looking at the tired group. "Dinner will be served in an hour, I'd appreciate it if as many of you as possible took a shower before it commences. Hinata, Neji, Itachi, Sakura, you four have two personal bathrooms, so there is no excuse for not having it done!"

Sakura raised her hand, "But, Naruko-chan, Itachi takes like 3 years to shower!"

Naruko raised an eyebrow, "Then shower with him, I don't care!"

The pinkette blushed profusely, covering her face in response to Itachi's willing smirk.

Karin smiled slyly, "We all know you're just a slut who's been waiting for her chance to pounce on a dick!"

Sasuke's face darkened, remembering back to the summer.

_Madara loomed over the boy evilly, loving the way he quivered. "You're just a little whore, aren't you, Sasu-chan?" The man pulled at the boy's boxers roughly, revealing his package. "You look pathetic. Why don't you beg next? Or would you rather I gave you your other clothes to wear?"_

_The raven flinched, remembering the plaid mini skirt, black thong and bra his uncle had forced him into last week before the elder had practically ripped him apart. He looked up at the towering figure fearfully, "No, Master… Please, I promise I'll be good today…"_

_The elder smirked, sending shivers down the younger's spine. "Then get on your hands and knees and beg like a good little slut, and maybe I'll give you what all of you whores want."_

_Sasuke did as he was told, biting his tongue as his uncle slid into him, making him want to vomit._

Sasuke bit back hateful words for Karin. He unfastened his seatbelt and escaped the van swiftly, Naruto and Gaara following protectively behind. Sasuke opened the door only to come face to face with a broad chest that felt awfully familiar. His heart sunk into his stomach as he looked up into the face of the man he thought he was free from. "Well, if it isn't my cute little whore and his adorable little friends…"

Gaara glanced sideways at Naruto to notice his clenched jaw and balled fists, pulling Sasuke back to let the blond attack the man. Naruto jumped towards Madara, punching him straight in the jaw. The man recoiled as though he had been burned as Gaara gave him a hard kick to his family jewels. Madara let out a small squeak of pain that brought the red-head the widest grin Sasuke had seen on him in a long time. The raven had thought that his friend had calmed down since he beat up his dad for being a lazy son-of-a-bitch in fifth grade, and opted to inquire later when it wasn't being so useful.

Kyuubi ran up the steps when he had seen Naruto stiffen from the van. "Naru-chan!" He stopped in his tracks at the sight of Madara, "You… What the fuck do you think you're doing terrorizing our family again, you asshole?"

The older raven smirked, "Oh, Kyuu-chan… You've grown so much. I don't think this involves you though anymore. I'm here for my own family."

The red-head glared at the raven, "If you ever come near Konoha again, I will personally cut your dick off with a rusty knife. And you better go straight back to your prison sentence…"

The raven barked a laugh, "Or you'll send me to my rightful grave? Your cute little sister already tried and failed, so get over yourself, you little cock whore!"

The three boys stood in shocked silence before Naruko suddenly launched at the raven from behind, brandishing a knife that she held against his neck menacingly, "Kyuu-kun, call the police, this time, he won't be coming back."

As Kyuubi dialled, the blonde took the knife, stabbing it into Madara's neck before pulling a towel from her back pocket and wiping the blood off, taking each of the boys arms and administering small haphazard slashes in their skin. She pulled up her shirt to show scars that Kyuubi closed his eyes against. She found the spots she was looking for and pulled her shirt back down, sliding the knife through the shirt against her side and across her legs. Kyuubi hung up, grabbing the same knife and making some deep cuts in his own arms, stomach and leg.

The rest of the group stared at them. Naruko smiled weakly, he's dead, and if he's not, he may as well be… Self defence against a raging lunatic… The cops won't care who he was…" Naruko took the bloody towel into the living room, lit the fireplace and tossed it in. "Everyone will have an acting exam tonight.

The police showed up and Iruka bounded up the steps to see Madara laying there. He walked in, looking first in the dining room, then to the living room. "Naruto, Naruko! Is everyone okay?"

Naruko didn't move from her spot staring at the fire, and Naruto only glanced over hollowly. He almost felt bad lying to Iruka, but Madara had it coming with everything that he did. The blond knew that he had some connection with Kyuubi, and as such, Naruko, but wasn't sure what. Iruka summoned the paramedics to the living room to care for our minor wounds.

Kyuubi looked up at the brunette helplessly, "… He came back… How?"

Iruka looked genuinely distraught for the red-head. "He came back earlier this summer for Sasuke too. I don't know how, but he won't be pulling that again. He's dead, bled out. The paramedics are taking him to be incinerated. The family doesn't want anything to do with him."

Kyuubi nodded, "Can we be left alone, Iruka? It's been a long day, and I don't know if we can handle much more of this."

Iruka glanced over to Naruko who had silent tears running down her face and nodded, "Call me if you need anything, okay, Kyuu-chan?"

Kyuubi nodded, leading all of them out before scouring the house. Naruto looked around, "Nee-chan, what's Kyuu looking for?"

Naruko blinked, staring at her brother, "Video cameras. We'll have to dispose of them as soon as possible."

Just then Kyuubi returned with about twenty small objects, throwing them hastily into the fire. He turned to the three friends, "Sasuke, try to stay around someone else at all times. Naruto, Gaara, you two are probably the best people to keep an eye on him. Naruko, I'll stay around you if you want."

Naruko nodded, "Thanks Kyuu-chan… Dinner's going to be served around 6, so everyone get their showers in before then."

Everyone else dispersed, but Karin, Naruko and Kyuubi stayed in awkward silence. Karin finally spoke up, "You know that they're going to find out if you two keep acting like this."

Naruko and Kyuubi stared at each other, Naruko sighed, "Naruto at least should know…"

Kyuubi shrugged, "It's up to you Naru-chan."

Naruko bit her lip, standing up decisively, "I'm going to make dinner now."

Kyuubi smiled, that's the Naruko he knows and loves. "I'll stay by you. Temari and Sasori are probably arguing over who should be allowed to shower where anyway. Karin-chan, you should go shower upstairs."

Karin smirked, "I will, but don't think this means you can sit inside of the bathroom when Naruko's turn comes."

Kyuubi smiled innocently, "No, I was gonna take a bath with her, just like old times!"

Karin rolled her eyes, heading upstairs, "I give up."

Naruto, Sasuke and Gaara stood in their bathroom awkwardly. They had decided that they were in this together, but were unsure of how to do it. So, here they stood, looking at each other nervously. Naruto was the first one to speak up, "I know we're best friends and all, but is this maybe going too far? I mean… We've never really… Seen each other."

Sasuke smirked, "What? Is the little Naru-chan ashamed of himself?"

Gaara smiled, "I would have figured he'd be the first one undressed."

Naruto blushed, "It's just that… What if things change once we do this?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes, "It's not like we're having sex… I don't know about you two, but I'm not in the mood."

Gaara nodded sympathetically, "Naruto, we aren't going to judge how you look or anything."

Naruto nodded, "Why don't we all just get undressed at the same time?"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow sceptically, "Yeah, let's all get undressed for one of us to shower."

Gaara sighed checking the closet, "Naruko thought of everything for this place, didn't she?" He pulled out three soft robes, "Here, now let's just get this over with."


	9. Talk Serious to Me

**Ryota* So… Just before putting this chapter together, I checked my e-mail to see if I got any reviews… Seems like only one, sadly…**

**Asahi* Not to mention it was from a "guest" who read all the way to chapter 7 just to tell us to kill ourselves…**

**Kosuke* Seriously, not okay… Like… At All…**

**Hikari, glaring daggers at the wall* What the FUCK?! Like… What. The. Actual. FUCK?! Who does that? I get it if you don't like, but then why read to the second to last chapter just to tell us to kill ourselves? Was it not fucking angsty enough for your tastes, because nothing happened that should offend anyone happened! All we had was normal stuff… Sure, a little joking between friends, and an asshole or two, but really? It's not like I graphically killed someone off in that chapter… The one they commented on didn't even have anything to do with violence!**

**Ryota* Did we not have enough violence?**

**Kosuke* I just don't understand people who do that…**

**Hikari* Sorry for the rant, but that pissed me off… I don't tolerate any type of abuse anymore… I don't have the patience to deal with it anymore… Saying that is NOT okay!**

**Asahi* Due to the fact we've been gone so long, here's a long chapter…**

**With Naruko and Kyuubi**

"Kyuu-chan, I'm fine… Really, you don't have to help me up the stairs…" Naruko insisted, hearing Karin rifling through the pantry to start dinner.

He sighed, "Naruko-nee, you don't need to act tough… Come on…" With that, he picked her up and carried her up the rest of the steps.

She looked up at her brother longingly, "It's been a while, hasn't it?"

He grimaced, kicking the bathroom door closed lightly, sitting the younger down on the toilet and stripping quickly. "It has… And I hope this sort of thing never has to happen again… I'm going to shower first so that you can relax in your bath, okay?"

He turned on the water and laid out towels while the water warmed up and he climbed in slowly. The two siblings sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes before Naruko spoke up, leaning her head back against the wall behind her, "I think I'm going to tell Naruto…"

Kyuubi froze for a few seconds before glancing over at the adorable blonde, switching from the shower to the spout and plugging the drain to wait for the bath to fill a bit. He dug under the sink for a few moments before pulling a small bottle out and pouring some into the tub. "What are you going to tell him, sis? Hey, I've killed before… Hey, Naru-chan, I tried to protect our older brother, but I couldn't get there fast enough, and it got a little messy." He turned back to his sister, kneeling in front of her to look her in the eyes, "Naruko, you need to think about this. It'll open more old stories than you intend for it to. Does he even know about what happened today?"

Naruko looked down, "He's smart… He's probably pieced some of it together… I just… I don't know how to tell him that this isn't the first time…"

Kyuubi smiled, cradling the younger Uzumaki in his arms to comfort her. You'll figure it out, Naruko-chan, I'm sure of it. You always do after all." He then smirked evilly, alerting Naruko to an ulterior motive a few seconds too late as he wrapped one arm tightly around her to keep her arms down, yelling, "Feel the pride of the Uzumaki Clan!" Without any further warning, he began ruthlessly tickling his younger sister until she cried uncle and could barely breathe from all of the laughing.

Naruko smiled, much like both of her brothers and, still laughing, hugged her brother tightly as he released her from his iron grip. "You always know how to make me feel better, don't you, Kyuu-chan…"

He smiled down at his sister, easily lifting her into his arms and settling both of them into the bath, turning the water off. "You're sure you want to tell our innocent little brother about what we've done?"

She looked down, "Maybe not quite yet… We should probably hold off until he passes the auditions… If he does…"

The red-head rubbed his sister's shoulders slowly, "He did once already, didn't he? Even if it was as a she…"

Naruko giggled, leaning into her brother as he began to clean her careful of her old and new wounds, "That's a very good observation coming from an idiot like you…"

Kyuubi laughed at his sibling, kissing the back of her head, "I have my moments of clarity, love…"

Naruko glanced up at her brother, "So… What's with Temari?"

The elder Uzumaki groaned at the mention of the blonde that he wasn't looking to talk about more, "Oh, you know…"

She rolled her eyes at him, "No, actually I don't… Are you still hung up on her pussy, or is it because she moved on without you?"

He looked at the ceiling, replying reluctantly, "She was a good casual hit… But… It's probably more the latter. She just jumped onto Sasori the minute she saw him. It pisses me off…"

Naruko leaned against her brother's warm chest, "They have dated before you know. I heard they only broke up because he moved away when his parents couldn't find work around here. They found some in the next town, but by the time Sasori found out, it was too late, and she was screwing you."

Kyuubi sighed heavily, dousing is sibling with hot water, and began scrubbing his younger sister's blonde hair, rubbing shampoo in towards the roots and conditioner over the rest of the length. He grabbed a mug from the side of the tub and rinsed her hair thoroughly, contemplating all that she had told him. "Hey, Naru-chan?" She inclined her head a bit to show him she was listening, "Why are we always the ones that are left over?"

She turned around to face her brother, "We aren't the only ones this time… Karin-nee-chan is alone with us too…"

Kyuubi smiled down at his sister, patting her head, "Yes, but how many did you intend to be alone?"

Naruko looked down, trying to sound cheerful, "Just me of course, silly Kyuu-chan!"

Kyuubi hugged the younger to his chest, "Why do you separate yourself from everyone else, Naru-chan?"

**With Naruto, Sasuke and Gaara**

The three were now sitting in cushy robes, staring at each other nervously. Finally Sasuke sighed, "How about we go from tallest to shortest?"

Gaara smirked, opening his robe, "Fine by me…" With that, he stepped into the shower. "So, what do you think of that guy Sai?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes, "He's a guy, and he's gay… Why, you interested, Gaara?"

Naruto shivered, "He gives me the heebie-jeebies! I don't know that I wanna be in that group anymore…"

Gaara pushed the curtain aside a bit, revealing the water tracks down his body and the shampoo he was rubbing into his hair, "Not that! I mean… Why was he the only other one to choose Yamato?"

Sasuke leaned back, looking at the ceiling, "It does seem a bit unreasonable to have so few in his group…"

Naruto shook his head, "No way, Sasuke… I mean, sure, it's a little weird, but he could be a returning model who's tried bigger groups or, seeing as he was the last to pick, maybe he just wanted to ensure more time with a mentor. We only chose him because it meant that we all got to stick together…"

Gaara shuddered, "He is Jiraiya's recruit though… Maybe he just wanted to be around people who'd understand him… He might have a good gaydar…"

Naruto nodded, "Jiraiya likes to get his way with his male models… In other words, only gays so that there's no complaints about the skimpy outfits he squeezes those poor girls into. The boys get some scandalous ones too though…"

Gaara nodded, stepping out of the shower and gesturing for Naruto to enter in his stead, "Did you to see that mid-drift on him though?"

Sasuke nodded, tossing Gaara his discarded robe, "He's got good abs, that's for sure…"

Naruto laughed, "Don't let that asshole from school hear you, Sasuke, he'd think you're poaching the poor guy!"

Gaara smirked, "Please, Sasuke just wants to ogle the guy that looks like him…"

Sasuke huffed indignantly, "I'm not _that_ narcissistic, idiot! Though, I wouldn't mind hanging out with him. He seems like an okay person. I mean, yeah, stoic as hell, but there are worse things, you know…"

Naruto laughed lightly, "He's definitely cute, I'll give you that, but I wouldn't say that his personality's too great."

Gaara shrugged, "You two pulled me out of a rough spot not that long ago when I kicked my old man to the curb…"

Sasuke nodded in agreement, "Yeah, and you two have been amazing to me with everything I've been through too."

Naruto was silent for a few seconds, rinsing the soap from his body, "We could give him a chance, I guess. Anyone can change after all!"

Sasuke shrugged, handing the blond a towel as he stepped out while Gaara handed him his robe back. He stood there awkwardly, rubbing his arm against the fluffy fabric, watching his friends.

Gaara glanced up, hearing the water continue to hit the tub unhindered by a body. "Sasuke, do you want us to look away? You don't have to show us anything…"

Sasuke looked up, "Actually… I wanted you two to see…"

Naruto's eyes widened in shock before he walked over to the raven, wrapping an arm around his shoulders comfortingly, "You sure, Sasuke? You really don't have to…" The raven shook his head, shedding the robe slowly.

Gaara stood, kneeling in front of his friend, rubbing the scars that marred the boy's chest and stomach. "Are all of these from…?" Sasuke nodded, feeling Naruto tighten his grip on him. "I'm sorry, Sasuke…"

Sasuke blinked, "Why are you sorry?"

Naruto was shaking with anger at the now dead man, "Because we didn't notice, Sasuke… We call ourselves your best friends, but we couldn't be bothered to notice that something was wrong with you."

Gaara nodded in agreement. "We should have known… Something had to have been abnormal at some point in the last year… But we were so engulfed in our own lives that we couldn't be bothered with yours."

Naruto shifted to hold his friend around the waist from behind while the redhead in front of him stood and wrapped the two securely into his arms. Sasuke relaxed into the hold his best friends had him in and allowed a few tears to fall down his cheeks and soak into Gaara's robe as they stood there holding each other for a few moments before the taller two boys pulled back slowly.

Naruto nuzzled Sasuke's cheek affectionately before laughing, "Better shower, Sasuke or Naruko's gonna be pissed at us for holding up dinner!" With that, Sasuke untangled himself from his friends and climbed into the shower. The conversation reverted to discussing Sai and his gayness in comparison to their own.

Naruto rolled his eyes, "I've met a lot of gay guys from Uncle Jiraiya, and all stoic guys are semes!"

Gaara smirked, "Then explain Sasuke! He's both stoic and an Uchiha, but he's for sure an uke!"

Sasuke's blood boiled, pulling the shower curtain aside as he glared at the red head, "Hey, leave me out of this!"

Naruto laughed, "Sai's a giver, not a receiver… I can barely see Sasuke not giving… The only way he wouldn't is if he were being super lazy!"

Gaara leaned back on his right arm, waving his left hand, "I can see him being a bottom, he's petite and cute, plus, imagine the noises he'd make!"

Naruto blushed, "Imagine the sounds he could get out of someone!"

Gaara brushed the blond off, "Like cries of pain? Sure, he'd be a fine Dom, but that has very little to do with giving and getting…"

Sasuke laughed at the duo. "He's a switch… Can't you tell by how he holds himself? It just depends on his mood."

Naruto thought about it, "Maybe, but how can you be sure? And everyone has one that they like better than the other."

Gaara smirked at his raven haired friend as he stepped out of the shower, "You sound like you're speaking from experience, Sasuke…"

The raven blushed lightly, "So what if I am?"

Naruto shook his head, "I wouldn't have any confidence as a seme… I'm probably better cut out for being an uke."

Gaara balked at his friends' confessions before clearing his throat uncomfortably, "I'd much rather be on top… Everyone knows when you've taken it because you don't walk quite right the next day."

Sasuke shrugged, "And this, the switch was created…"

The friends shrugged at each other, dressing in their pyjamas and exiting the bathroom.

**With Hinata and Neji**

Hinata and Neji entered their room, looking nervously at each other. Hinata sat down on the bed, looking at her hands, "W-what should we do?"

Neji smiled kindly at his fiancé, petting her hair comfortingly, "I would say that we shower one at a time, wouldn't you?"

Hinata blushed, kissing him gently on the lips before pulling back to watch his reaction to her proposal. "O-or m-maybe we should take one together…"

His eyes lit up before he lifted her up and carried her into the bathroom to run a bath. She smiled lightly, not knowing how to ask the questions she wanted to, but undressing slowly, fortunately, she didn't have to bring up the topics because Neji turned around and asked her, "Is something wrong, Hina-hime?"

Hinata looked up into the pale eyes that matched her own, before swallowing her worries as he began to remove his clothing. "I want to talk… About what we should do…"

Neji smiled, kissing her cheek lovingly, "Is this about sharing a room?"

Hinata blushed, nodding hesitantly. "Yes… Along with the modelling…"

Neji sighed, turning off the water and pulled his blunette into the large tub with him, "Nothing will happen until after the wedding, Hina-hime. Especially with the auditions since I know that you want this. The wedding is in two years, we have plenty of time to pass the auditions and build our relationship."

The blunette smiled up at her brunette fiancé happily, "Okay, but no funny business with us sharing a bed!"

**With Sakura and Itachi**

Itachi smirked as he closed the door to their room, watching Sakura lay down on the floor. "Does that mean that I get to shower first?"

Sakura groaned, sitting up to voice her opinion, "No… You take way too long!"

Itachi chuckled at his girlfriend, "So do you want to do what Naruko suggested?"

Sakura blushed, "Well, only if all that we do is shower…"

The raven smiled, offering his hand to the pinkette, "Whatever you wish, my princess."

Sakura grinned, playing with her boyfriend's hair, thinking about how she wanted to ask her question, but Itachi running a bath jerked her abruptly out of her thoughts and she blurted, "Do you want sex?" He slapped her hands over her mouth, hoping the question hadn't come out as bluntly as she thought.

Itachi stiffened, turning around slowly to look at the pinkette in confusion, "Why do you ask?"

Sakura looked down, undressing slowly, "It's just that… I know you have to give heirs as heir…"

Itachi relaxed, pulling his own clothes off, "I've kind of been hoping that you'd be okay waiting until you graduate high school and we're married."

She looked up at his quizzically, "You want to wait that long?"

He smiled, ruffling her hair, "Of course, I'm sure you're worth every second, my princess. If nothing else, I'd like to wait until you've cleared the modelling auditions."

The pinkette smiled up at the raven before her, pulling him into the bath with her to relax.

**With Sasori and Temari**

The duo stared at each other in front of the bathroom door. Finally, Sasori spoke up hesitantly, "So, Temari… Are you and Kyuubi still?"

The blonde knew what he was asking, and closed her eyes, "No… And we haven't been either. It's been almost a year since anything's happened."

The red-head's eyebrows shot up, "So, since a few months after I left?"

She nodded, rubbing her arm nervously, "Yeah… Pretty much."

Sasori leaned closer to the blonde, resting his forehead against the girl's, "Thank God…" The blonde blinked, attempting to figure out what had happened, her mind whirling, "I thought I had lost you back then."

Temari smiled at her scarlet haired lover. "How could I hope to find someone just like you, Sasori?"

He smiled, pulling her into the bathroom with him, kissing her neck slowly, "Then why not share the half hour?"

The blonde blushed, "Just… No sex. You don't get to knock me up before my career even starts!"

The red head just held the younger blonde to his chest for a few moments before agreeing and starting a shower for them.


	10. After Dinner Conflicts

**Hikari* In case you're all wondering what took so long, the answer is that I was making floor plans for Naruko's house!**

**Asahi* And they're finally done!**

**Kosuke* That took longer than expected…**

**Hikari* So go google homestyler and add the rest of the site below to the end to see it!**

designprofile/28f55f00-17dd-45f7-8962-12be5938d23c

Everyone sat awkwardly at the counter, eating their food in silence. Neji and Hinata were glancing between each other oddly and no one thought that it was because they had never shared a bathroom before, although that would be a perfectly good reason for such a reaction from the blunette.

Sasuke looked down the counter toward Naruko sceptically, "So, what now? Do we get to go home for the weekend?"

Naruko looked appalled, "Of course not, Sasu-kun! You only get to go home after you've completed all of the parts of the audition!"

Hinata blushed bright red, snapping her head up to look at the blonde, "W-What? Na-Naruko, you can't be serious! If I would have known that, I-" She dropped her gaze abruptly, and it was as though a neon sign had burst out of nowhere and lit up the words, 'Just Lost Her Innocence' right above her head.

Neji choked on his food at what she had been ready to confess to everyone at the table, but quickly recovered his smug attitude and wrapped an arm around Hinata's shoulder, whispering into her ear, "Don't worry, Hina-chan, I'll make sure you don't sleep at all tonight. There's plenty more for as much as you want."

Sasori and Itachi sniggered, and Itachi couldn't help himself, "Oh great Naruko, please come up with a pastime for this group of recruits so that we won't have to suffer through the tortures of a pissy Kyuubi!"

The man wrinkled his nose, glaring across the table toward the lovebirds, "Seriously?! I thought that those few minutes in my room to get clothes was bad enough. You're saying they wanna do that constantly?"

Naruko tapped her chin thoughtfully, pushing her empty plate aside, "We could play truth or dare! We need to get more acquainted with each other anyways."

Sakura smiled, "That sounds like fun! How many rounds do we take?"

Naruko giggled, "Silly Sakura! Of course you'd ask how long the game'll take! You wanna get it on with your man! There are 16 rounds! An Uzumaki family tradition!"

Hinata's face fell at that, "B-But that's 192 questions! We'll be playing all night, Naru-chan!"

Naruko smiled at the younger girl, "That's the point!"

Sasuke sighed, "Don't you think that's a bit extreme, Naruko? Some of us have homework to finish if we want to stay here."

Naruko looked around, sighing heavily before nodding, "Fine! Tonight we'll play 192 rounds of Fruitbasket, then you can all finish your homework at the kitchen counter before Strip Tease tomorrow night!"

Itachi rolled his eyes at the girl, "Fine, but people who won't be doing homework have to try not to bother us at all."

Naruko sighed dramatically, "But food… I'm going to get hungry!"

Kyuubi rolled his eyes, looking at his younger sibling as though she were stupid, "Of course we'll make three meals tomorrow. Why not just give them the living room instead, or will the furniture be coming in tomorrow?"

Naruko nodded, spilling her logic out of her mouth as she stood and dropped her plate in the sink, "That was the point of staying up all night, so that we didn't have to find places for everyone to sleep before the furniture got here tomorrow."

Sasuke sighed, leaning back in his chair, "Well, we have what? Three beds total?"

Naruko nodded slowly, "Two kings and a standard…"

Naruto glanced at his friend, "We also have two couches and two chairs!"

Sakura looked up, "So, Itachi and I get one king, Hinata and Neji get the other, and then…"

Karin smirked, "Naruto, Sasuke and Gaara can have the conception bed! I call one of the couches…"

Naruko counted heads, "That leaves me, Kyuu, Temari and Sasori…"

Temari looked up reluctantly raising her hand, "I'll take one of the chairs, I guess." Sasori nodded in agreement, grabbing Temari's hand.

Naruko smiled one of her hundred-watt smiles, looking at her brother from the other side of the counter, "Then Kyuu and I will share the couch!"

Sasori stared at the blonde, "You and Kyuubi seem to be really close, Naruko…"

The redhead smirked at the younger, "You jealous, Sasori?"

He glared at Kyuubi, "Not of your personality, asshole."

Itachi yanked on Kyuubi's arm, "Why don't you two cool it?"

Sasori practically rocketed out of his seat, "Tell his fucking dick to cool it why don't you?" He glared at the taller redhead, "Do you even know how to keep it in your fucking pants?"

Kyuubi snapped at that, growling dangerously, "Don't talk about things that you don't know about, runt…"

Naruko's eyes widened and she hopped onto and over the counter, grabbing his arm protectively and dragging him out of the room via the stairs in the corner, "No, Kyuu-kun, bad!"

Naruto bit his lip, watching the retreating backs of his older siblings. He knew Kyuubi was having to relive a lot right now with what happened, but he couldn't figure out what. He glanced toward his right as he felt Sasuke shift and could only stare as his friend walked over to the enraged redhead, who was still yelling at Itachi, and slapped him. Hard. "Get over yourself, you fucking prick. You don't know anything." With that, he bounded up the stairs after the older two Uzumaki.

Naruto wanted to follow, but he wanted his siblings to be able to trust him with whatever was hurting them so much, and decided to stay where he was.

Sasori stared after the raven brokenly before standing up and leaving the room, followed by a distraught Temari. The blonde didn't want to leave either of the redheads alone, but Kyuubi was safe, Sasori… She couldn't be sure of Sasori anymore.

Itachi looked up the stairs in the direction that Sasuke had headed off in, worried for his baby brother. Sasuke was cool headed, not the hot head he had just witnessed. Something bad was happening with the boy now, and it terrified him not to know what it was. He was supposed to be the one who protected his brother, not Kyuubi and not Naruko… Naruto and Gaara were fine, but he didn't want them to be the only ones that could talk to Sasuke. Itachi closed his eyes before open them a moment later and start toward the stairs only for Sakura to grab onto his waist from behind and bury her face in his back, warm wetness soaking into the black fabric, stopping him cold with realization. Sasuke wasn't the only one who needed him. Sakura needed him too. Maybe even more now that she had no one else here for her. They were all friends, sure, but that was all. Sasuke had his two best friends, but Ino had turned down the modelling offer this season because Shikamaru had said that it was too troublesome with his course load, and TenTen had gotten an internship in a blacksmith's shop this year and hadn't wanted to take on two jobs. He relented, turning around to pick her up bridal style and carry her to their room.

Naruto looked around the remaining uncomfortable faces, starting with a grimace from Neji and Hinata biting her lip to Karin who was looking away guiltily then to Gaara who had wrapped his arm around the blond's shoulders comfortingly when Sasuke had blown up in front of the group. Naruto finally turned back to everyone and smiled weakly, "Why don't we all start on our homework! I got us all Monday's assignments on Thursday so that nothing would be late!"

The remaining teens smiled bleakly before following Naruto toward his sister's office to grab the assignments and lecture notes. Gaara looked down at his crush and best friend lovingly, "What should we do about the people who stormed off?"

Naruto smiled, "I'll give them their homework after we manage to sort out our own! After all, it's all in piles by teacher!"

Karin rolled her eyes, "Well, some of those should be easy at least. The ones for upperclassmen will at least be different teachers." So, just lay them out and we'll probably be able to figure it out. Does anyone know what Temari, Sasori, Sakura, Sasuke and Itachi are taking?"

Gaara looked up, "Sasuke has the same schedule as Naruto and I… I think I know most of Temari's too…"

Hinata nodded, "Sakura and I have most of our classes together…"

Neji sighed, "So, it's down to the only college students…"

Naruto was sifting through the papers, "But they're different years and majors, so it shouldn't be too hard to differentiate, except for right here… I have no clue about foreign languages…"

Karin sighed, grabbing the papers from Naruto, glancing through the two she grabbed, "How is this that hard? One is French and the other is German!"

Naruto sighed, "But there's another one here!"

Gaara glanced over his shoulder, "What is it? Spanish?"

Neji rolled his eyes at the Uzumakis, "Anyway, how do we know who's taking what?"

Hinata patted her fiancé on the back, "The romance languages will obviously be Sasori because he's an art major. German's probably Itachi's because the Uchiha's just partnered with a firm from Germany."

Neji stared at his fiancé, "How do you know the Uchiha's signed with a German manufacturer?"

Hinata smiled cutely, "I don't, but most art topics aren't based in Slovak language, so it only makes sense because he'll be taking over the company."

Karin smiled at the blunette, patting her on the head, "Now that's the kind of logic I was looking for from Naruto!"

Gaara looked appalled, "Naruto doesn't logic… No one in his family does…" He stared at the red head, "Well, I don't know about cousins after all… But the trio of siblings sure as hell don't…"

Karin sighed, flopping into Naruko's chair, "Neither does their mother… It's probably where they got all of their intelligence from…"

Naruko huffed indignantly, "Mama is super smart!"

Karin scoffed, "Yeah, she can cook and clean and beat the shit out of someone. It's a good thing that your dad has a real job!"

Naruto faced his cousin, "Mama has a job…"

Karin nodded, "Yes, and we thank her for her service as your father's body guard, but you don't have to call that a real job since she only hangs around him and bothers him all day while he's actually working."

Naruto pouted, "Just because she isn't in charge of the company doesn't mean that she doesn't have an important job…"

Gaara nodded, "All auntie Mikoto does is housework too! And my mom just runs a restaurant in Dad's chains…"

Hinata gawked at the boy, "You mean you actually have parents?" she blurted out before slapping her hands over her mouth.

Gaara looked toward the blunette who was blushing profusely and smiled, "Of course I do! They own restaurant chains in Spain... Kankuro's being bred into the perfect heir since Temari said she didn't want any part in some stupid Spanish fetish my parents have. We live here because it's where Granny Chiyo lives!" He looked oddly at Hinata. "As if Temari could make enough money to send us to the Academy if we didn't have parents…"

The blunette balked, looking to Neji, "Does it cost that much?"

The brunette chuckled at his lover, "Of course it does. About twenty thousand dollars per student. You didn't think that just anyone could get into our school, did you?"

The blunette's eyes widened into saucers, "You're kidding, right?"

Gaara was picking his nails, "Who would lie about that, Hinata?"

Naruto nodded, "Of course it costs money to go to school."

Karin smirked, "Did you think it was just a coincidence that all of our friends happen to be incredibly rich?"

The blunette blushed, thinking hard, "Could someone explain everything more clearly?"

Naruto shrugged, "The Uzumaki family controls a large branch of the textile industry, allowing designers and modelling agencies throughout the country…"

Gaara looked up, "Mother and Father enjoy owning prosperous chains of restaurants mostly centred around Spain… And the Uchiha family's pride is in the lawyers they produce…"

Neji smiled down at the girl, "Sakura's family controls a chain of hospitals, Sasori's family is filled with museum curators and prosperous artists, Ino's family owns flower shops across the country, Chouji's family runs BBQ chain that also produces ration packs for the military… Even Lee's family owns large dojos across the country."

Karin looked up thoughtfully, "Kiba's family runs a breeding business for pedigree dogs… TenTen's family runs a large weapon manufacture… Shikamaru's family runs… What was it?"

Gaara rolled his eyes, "They're an intelligence agency… They run through anything and everything someone could ever want information on. They work close to Shino's family that controls a good amount of honey manufactures along with hired body guards."

Naruto looked up, "What about that weird Kabuto guy from class?"

Neji rolled his eyes, "He's the kid of Orochimaru… That crack scientist."

"So… Orochimaru's only managing to keep him there because he graduated third in his class back when he went to school?" Karin asked.

"Probably," Neji nodded, "He was only beaten by Jiraiya and Tsunade…"

Gaara glanced at his friend as he started sorting out piles by receiver, "I'll never understand how Tsunade and Naruto are related…"

Naruto didn't even look up, "She's my mom's half-sister, ten years older…"

Neji sighed at the blond's idiocy, "We get that… It's just… Tsunade's an amazing medic who takes after her mother and half-sister on that side of the family than the Uzumaki family…"

Hinata nodded, "She's the most talented surgeon in the Haruno family's arsenal, it's no wonder they want Sakura to train under her."

Naruto smiled up at his friends, finally clipping some papers together to five neater piles, "She was uncle Jiraiya's first model. She liked the skimpier clothes when she was younger. Anyways," he handed the rest of the group a few stacks of papers, "These are all of the assignments for the next week of school since the first week's the most labour intensive and we may not make it back before then. Old man Sarutobi understands from a few of the other models in the past, and he pulled some strings at Akatsuki to get the work into our hands... Uhm… He said to let him know how everything goes and what we need…" He looked down at the papers he had clipped before nodding decisively, "I'll take everyone their homework, you guys get started without me."


	11. Cocoa Conversations

Naruto forced himself to continue smiling until the other teens had gathered their work and headed toward the kitchen before sighing and moving behind his sister's desk to search one of the filing cabinets. He wasn't sure what he was looking for, but he knew if he could just find something, that it would explain everything. He spent a few minutes rifling through her "Bottom Secret" drawer before pausing at the sight of a small profile folder. It looked old and abused with small creases in the middle and dog-eared corners. He laid it out on the desk, sticking a ruler into the space created by its absence. He opened the folder hesitantly, glancing at the date. 17 May 1993. He recognised it as the day after Naruko was born. There was a small picture of Kyuubi paper clipped to the front page and underneath it was a small sketch that seemed to be an estimate of his future appearance. Naruto's eye's widened as the realization hit him, making him sit in the chair behind him. His parents had arranged a marriage for their daughter, without knowing if they would ever have a son, in order to secure the addition of an up and coming design company that would compliment their own textile manufacture. The blond sighed, rubbing his temples. He had never had an older brother. He had only had a future brother-in-law all this time. Obviously Naruko knew, but then why? Why not tell him about it? And what was the Temari drama about? Unless there were circumstances that arose before he was old enough to understand the circumstances. He closed the file back up and replaced it gently, only one thought going through his head, _No one can know that I know…_

The blonde stepped out of the office as though nothing were wrong and descended the stairs with the clipped stacks of homework. He knocked first on Temari's door as it was the closest, although he doubted that either teen would actually be in that room. He slowly made his way to Sasori's room and heard a loud thud. He barged into the room, staring at the redhead who stood over the shocked blonde. She had, assumedly, been pushed down by the latter and landed against an old dresser. The redhead turned around and sighed, punching the opposite wall and cursing loudly. The blonde stood shakily, making her way slowly over to the male and wrapping her arms around his shoulders.

"I have both of your assignments here, Temari, Sasori." The blond sighed inwardly, thanking any gods out there that his voice didn't shake to reveal how much the scene bothered him.

The two figures grew stiff before nodding and turning to take the papers from Naruto's hands. Temari glanced through her pile before staring at the boy across from her, "How long do you expect us to be out of school?"

The younger shrugged, "The first week is usually the hardest, so we only got the work up until next Monday. But it'll be easy to get more if need be. Otherwise, there's always a way to get them to give you some leeway."

The trio stood there awkwardly for a moment before Naruto nodded toward the duo, "Try not to be so hard on Kyuubi… He's been through a lot…"

Sasori narrowed his eyes, "What do you know, Naruto?"

The blond shrugged, "Not any more than you do… But I can tell when someone's upset, can you?"

The redhead nodded hesitantly, "I'll try to steer clear for the time being then."

The younger nodded his head and left the room, closing the door behind him and making his way upstairs through the kitchen to knock on Itachi and Sakura's room lightly. The raven opened the door to look down at the blonde, "Hello, Naruto… What's wrong?"

The younger looked up at the raven, "Here's the homework for the next week for both you and Sakura…"

The elder's eyebrows shot into his hairline, "And how did you manage this, Naruto-kun?"

The blond shrugged, "Pulled a few strings here and there." He looked down, "Hey, if Sakura-chan's okay… I mean, everyone who feels up to it is working downstairs if either of you guys wanna come down…"

Itachi smiled, ruffling the younger's hair, "I'll ask her… You go take care of Sasuke," he glanced back into the room, "I have some other business to attend to."

Naruto nodded, "Don't worry about that! It's no problem!" he lowered his voice, "Gaara and I have him under control, he's going to be fine." The blond stared at the door, "Sakura doesn't have anyone right now, so take care of her."

The man nodded in response, closing the door as the blond walked away.

Naruto knocked lightly on Naruko's door, waiting a few moments before trying again. Finally, Naruko answered the door, quickly ushering her younger brother in and closing the door again. The younger was pushed into the small room to see Kyuubi leaning against one wall and Sasuke staring at another. The blond stepped closer to his best friend and tapped him on the shoulder lightly, breaking him out of his trance. "I have your homework…"

The raven smiled at the adorable blond and wrapped an arm loosely around his waist, "Is Sasori still downstairs?"

The blond shook his head, a small blush spreading from Sasuke wrapping his arm around him.

The raven glanced across the room at the two siblings before decisively looking down at his best friend, "Then how about I go help you do your homework too?"

He smiled widely and nodded, handing the raven a packet of papers and the duo exiting. By the time they had gotten into the living room, everyone else who wasn't affected by the argument had started working and were laughing and helping each other. The two sat down with their work. Sasuke situated between his two best friends and laughing at Hinata and Neji, who insisted on arguing about the likelihood of Naruko forcing Neji to cross-dress. Naruto smiled, enjoying the company of his friends for an hour or two before he became bored with his schoolwork.

He laid his head on the coffee table with a sigh. "I feel like something's missing…"

Hinata glanced at her blond friend with a small knowing smile, "Would hot cocoa make it better?"

The boy perked up, just like she knew he would, but he quickly schooled his face into a small pout, "With marshmallows?"

She giggled, standing gracefully, "Of course! Does anyone else want some?" The group nodded eagerly to her offer and she smiled kindly, "Well, then, Naruto-kun, would you go ask the others if they would like any?"

The teen nodded, rushing first to Sasori's room in the basement before Hinata could even leave the room. He scurried over to Sasori's door, knocking softly in case the couple was asleep. Temari opened the door slowly, her hair pulled into a low bun and her eyes looking tired, "What?"

The boy bounced, "Hinata told me to ask you and Sasori if you want hot cocoa!"

Temari smirked, "Yeah, that'd be good. Thanks, kid."

He nodded enthusiastically and sped off toward the stairs to the kitchen, nodding to Hinata and holding up two fingers to show her that they both wanted some. She smiled, watching him move up the stairs as she heated the milk. The blond knocked gently on Itachi's and Sakura's door next. He waited a few moments before Itachi opened the door a bit to peek out, and look down quizzically. Naruto happily inquired, "Hina-chan's making hot cocoa, do you and Sakura want some?"

The raven smiled, glancing over his shoulder, presumably to look at the pinkette, "It couldn't hurt. We' were about to come downstairs to hang out for a bit actually. Thanks for asking."

The blonde nodded eagerly, "Okay! See you downstairs then!" He padded over to the next door to Naruko's room. Naruko answered hesitantly, once more pulling her younger sibling into the room.

Kyuubi didn't look up from his seat on the floor. Naruko had changed him into a pair of soft pajama pants though he didn't have a shirt. There were two sleeping bags laid out on the floor and Naruto stared at them for a bit before looking towards his family. "Hinata wants to know if you two want hot cocoa…"

Kyuubi perked up a bit at the younger's tone, but only nodded in response. Naruko smiled weakly, "Sounds good, Naruto!"

The younger nodded, quickly turning his back on the other two and running back downstairs to tell Hinata to make four more cups. The blunette smiled at the blond as he sat down across the counter from the stove, watching her mix marshmallow fluff into the steaming pot of cinnamon-sugar milk. The blunette smiled back at her friend, "Is something wrong, Naruto?"

The blond looked up, plastering a smile onto his face, "I'm fine, Hinata! I'm just soooo tired!"

The girl rolled her eyes and continued making a large batch of her family's famous hot cocoa. "Don't worry, Naruto-kun, it'll be ready soon." She started spooning large amounts of powder into the pot, stirring each one in thoroughly before adding more. The boy made a sighing sound behind her, but she didn't turn around. She didn't believe that Naruto was okay, and she refused to look at that fake smile. She hummed softly to herself, adding more and more chocolate to the mixture until it turned a deep brown. She lowered the heat to a simmer and headed off to grab the mugs from the cabinet in the far corner. She loaded them onto two trays by the stove and began filling them carefully, adding some whipped cream and drizzling caramel and chocolate sauce over the top. She handed the smaller tray to the blond across the counter, "Would you take these four to Sasori, Temari, Naruko and Kyuubi? I saw Itachi and Sakura come downstairs before you. Yours will be waiting for you when you come back down."

The boy took a deep breath, "Actually, could you hand me mine? I wanna talk to my family."

The blunette flinched at the word family. She had never heard the blond say that word when talking about his siblings. They'd always just had their names. She shifted her own tray to hand Naruto another mug of the brown liquid as he headed downstairs. The blond didn't stay long in the basement before he came bounding up the stairs once more, heading toward his siblings. The blunette heard the boy, but didn't interfere. This was obviously important to him, and she wouldn't be the one to crush his hopes. She just hoped he didn't end up too dejected.

Naruto bounded up the stairs and barged into his sister's room to see something he wasn't expecting at all. Kyuubi was leaning over Naruko, pressing her against a wall. His shirt was gone and he had one hand up hers. His face held a grimace as he stared back at the young blond. "Naruto… Did you already forget that you need to knock before you enter someone else's room?"

The blond balled his fists, glaring at Kyuubi, "You shouldn't be doing that anyways!"

The redhead scoffed at the smaller male, moving closer to the other blonde. "What would you know about what I should and shouldn't do? I'm tired of waiting!" He stared down at the blonde, smirking, "Besides, you don't mind, do you, love?"

The blonde blushed, placing her hands on Kyuubi's chest, but only barely pushing him. Naruto's eyes widened at the display. It was as though even though a small part of him knew that this was how it would end up, he still wanted this to all be some sort of prank that the duo had played on him. But as this scene continued to play out, he knew that there was no such thing. Everything was real. And he would have to face it now, whether he liked it or not. The blond sat down the tray of hot cocoas on the floor and slid down the wall to the floor. "Why?"

The duo split, Kyuubi withdrawing his hand from under her shirt, gruffly inquiring, "Why what?"

The younger shook in anger, "Why did you two hide it from me?! You had to have known! And for that matter, why did they even make this arrangement?!"

The older blonde blinked, walking over toward her brother to pick up two of the hot cocoas, "Because Mama and Papa were both in bad shape. Duh." The younger looked up in an instant, obviously curious. Naruko stared at her younger brother, "Mama had almost died in labor and Papa was completely bedridden, so they started looking for another wealthy family to marry me off to in order to secure both my future and that of the company. That's why they did it. And we didn't tell you because you had become so attached to Kyuubi as an older brother we didn't think that it would ever become a problem that you didn't know the truth."

Naruto balked, "It would have been a problem when you two got married!"

Naruko shrugged, "You haven't turned 18 yet…"

The younger blinked in confusion, "What does that have to do with anything?"

Kyuubi sighed, "Your parents are afraid that if we get married too soon that I'll take both businesses for myself and you won't have a job. Not that I would, but that's what tends to happen in these situations."

Naruto sipped on his hot cocoa thoughtfully, "But I'm not bred to be the heir…"

Naruko sighed, "The Uzumaki's don't breed their heirs, their heirs shadow once they turn 18 and are married. Different families have different traditions, Naruto…"

Naruto looked between his siblings, sighing, "You two still could have told me about all of this, you know. It would have been easier for everyone…"

Kyuubi smirked, "Doesn't matter for another three years anyway, kid…"

The younger male bit his lip, "What if I gave my blessing to get married?"

Naruko shrugged, "I'd still rather wait out this audition term so that I can help get all of you through this."

Kyuubi glanced over at her, "We could get married and just hold off on the honeymoon, you know…"

She smirked, staring at her betrothed from behind her mug, "How about you buy me a ring and get yourself a job first, Kyuu-kun?"

The redhead blushed, "I have a job already."

She scoffed, "I want you to have a job in our company first."

Kyuubi laughed, "Then say that, silly!" He ruffled her hair and kissed her forehead.

She pouted, fixing her hair, "I shouldn't have to, idiot…"

Naruto stood decisively. "I'm going to give you two my blessing. But Naruko has to be married and back by next audition season."

Kyuubi smirked, "Deal."


	12. Workload Wonderland

Naruto picked up the tray and his mug, turning around. "We're studying downstairs in the living room… So, you two don't have to stay up here if you want to come down. As far as I know, Sasori and Temari are going to be staying in the basement for the rest of the night. If I don't see you two tonight, then I'll see you in the morning."

Naruko smiled weakly up at her brother. "We'll see you tomorrow, Naru-chan. We're going to get some sleep up here before everything comes in the morning. You might wanna warn everyone if you go to bed that they're coming with everything around 8:30, just in case they don't wanna be woken that early… wrote down on the whiteboard where everyone is, if that's okay?"

The younger blond gave her a blinding smile. "No problem, Naru-chan!" With that, he left the room, bouncing down the stairs into the living room.

Naruko ran her fingers through her hair tiredly, turning to face her brother. "So, what do you want to do about the...?"

Kyuubi smirked down at the blonde, wrapping his arms around her waist. "I'm going to marry you."

She blushed slightly as he kissed her gently. "I meant about everyone else."

He pulled back as though he had been burned, looking at his fiance with an odd face. He ran his hand through his hair, pulling out the bands that held his hair in its tails. "We need to finish the designs for Monday, but I'm sure those won't take long. I'll help you sew them again if you need it. You can trust me to be in charge of figuring out the furniture too if you want to spend all day tomorrow in the studio designing. I'm not as good at that as you are, but if you need to bounce ideas off of me, that's no problem for me."

The blonde rolled her eyes as she pulled a small binder from inside of her pillowcase. She pulled her pencil from its rubber band before turning to a flag with the word 'Singing' on it. "You aren't that great of a designer, but I'll admit that you're quite good in your sewing abilities. You must get that from your mother. She always was the craftier of your clan."

Kyuubi hissed, dragging her into his lap. "Says the girl who can't even embroider, let alone sew in the small details on her clothing."

The blonde didn't turn as she scoffed. "Well, I'll give you that if you'd like. We make an okay team though."

He played with her hair for a bit, running his fingers through her long, flowing locks while she sketched out what she wanted everyone to wear. Kyuubi easily became bored with simply playing with her hair and pulled her hair out of it's twin tails and began twisting and braiding it into an elaborate layered plait that piled on the top of her head before waterfalling down her spine towards her butt where he tied it with one of his ties, nodding at his hard work and rubbing her neck and shoulders lightly. She leaned against him, tucking up her knees to use them as a table for her drawing. His arms snaked around her waist loosely and he rested his chin on her left shoulder so that she could still draw with her other hand and closing his eyes. She turned pages, skipping over the few she had finished earlier as she went. She sketched the designs easily, until she came to the last two pages. Kyuubi barely opened his eyes after not hearing her pencil scrape against the paper. He glanced at her face, noting her puzzled look, before slipping the small binder out of her hands to get a better look at the scrawling. He smiled down at his fiance. "Make them complementary. Opposites are nice, and a common colour combo for the two of them is an obvious choice. Since Sakura has pink hair and Itachi black, it could be nice to incorporate those colours in as accents. Itachi and Sakura both look good in black, so that's an obvious choice. Since the song they've been assigned is Whiskey Lullaby, Itachi will have to appear first, so you shouldn't incorporate Sakura's pink into his outfit or it'll give her entrance away too soon. Maybe a red would be better since it could be most of the girls in the company because of our relations with Jiraiya." He handed the binder back to his lover easily. "Does that help?"

She smiled up, obviously impressed. "I guess you're more helpful than I originally took you to be."

"You do realize we were raised in the same household, don't you?" he scoffed.

She nodded in realization. "Now I do…"

He pulled back slowly, pulling another small binder from his own pillow, looking at the inventory sheets for this week that had been taken. "So, we have a lot of blood red left over from the projects this last design."

Naruko tapped her pencil against her chin. "Maybe, but is that really okay to use? Will we need it for any other outfits?"

"Gaara and Sasori look good in blood red for boys, and Karin and Sakura for girls."

She lifted one of her manicured eyebrows. "What about you then, love?"

He flipped his hair over his shoulder. "I look good in anything."

She giggled, slapping him on the chest. "If you say so."

He pouted childishly at her comment. "What's that supposed to mean, Naru-chan?"

She straddled his lap, leaning close to his ear, whispering softly, "I've never seen you in a mini skirt and tube top, so I'll just trust your judgement."

He blanched, almost falling backwards. "Why is that what you immediately go to?"

She blinked in confusion at her fiance's inquiry. "Silly Kyuu-chan, where else could I take it?"

"I meant that any colour looks good on me!"

She turned away, sticking her nose in the air. "You should have said that then!"

"I didn't know I had to though," he whined, wrapping his arms around her waist. "I thought that you knew me better than anyone else!"

She grinned evilly. "I do. I just wanted your reaction."

"That's cruel and unusual, Naru-chan!"

"I know. But sometimes," she pulled out the hair tie, shaking the elaborate style out to leave loose waves. "I just like to watch your reactions." She ran her hand along his jaw slowly. "Just to make sure that I know you as well as I think I do."

"What colour are you planning?"

She rested her hand on her chin, looking down at her paper. "Blood red for Sakura only if we have enough pieces for her outfit. Tomorrow, you'll get the furniture handled while I cut and start sewing."

He nodded. "I can handle that for sure. If you need any fabric, just let me now. I'll be sure to take care of anything you need."

"You had better, Kyuu-chan. I'm counting on you."

**With Naruto**

The blond bounced down the stairs to the living room to find the majority of the other models discussing homework and helping each other. He scurried over to sit between Sasuke and Hinata to try to figure out his own. He opened his math textbook and stared intently at the pages for a few minutes. "Hey, Sasuke, how do you do this problem?"

The raven glanced over his shoulder, laughing softly. "So, the problem wants you to solve for x when the equation is given to you."

The blond sighed. "Yeah, I can read that, bastard! I just don't know how!"

Sakura pulled the book closer to herself, turning the pages back a few and pointing to an example. "Just use this, that's how."

The blond smiled, looking down, but the more he looked, the more confused he seemed to become until he was slumped against the small table with his head in his hands. "I don't get it…"

Hinata tried to explain it for a while, but soon gave up when she realized she couldn't help the blond. Gaara reached over, looked at the problem for a few seconds before spewing out a word problem. "You have two bolts of fabric, one red and one blue. On the red one, you started with 16 yards of the fabric, on the blue, you used 12 yards of fabric. You cut the first bolt into three even pieces to complete a three shirts, on the other, it was pre-sectioned into four parts. In order to take inventory quickly, you must figure out how long each of the sections is. What is your current inventory?"

Naruto made a face at the example. "Gaara, don't change the problem! They were cut into four foot sections to make long sleeve shirts. Otherwise, they would be dresses. But that doesn't help me with this problem here! The absolute value of sixteen minus three x equals four x minus twelve doesn't have anything to do with the problem you just gave me."

Everyone was silent for a few minutes before Neji spoke up, braving the probably odd explanation. "How did you figure that problem out?"

Naruto blinked, oblivious to Neji's apparent discomfort. "If both are equal to each other, then it's basically sixteen minus twelve. After all, the two are supposed to be even, right? And you used three sections of the red and you had four sections of the other. Four yards is the only option."

Neji stared at the blond, rage building in his chest. "How could you understand that but not the problem! Are you an idiot?"

"We've discussed this before, haven't we? He's a special breed of idiot." Sasuke chuckled.

Naruto glared at his crush. "Why do you have to go that far?"

Gaara smirked, picking up his friend's plan and playing along. He moved easily around the raven to hold the blond's chin firmly in his hand. "No one else could figure the problem out the way that you did, my love."

The blond blushed, staring at the redhead in surprise. Sasuke sidled up to whisper in the cute uke's ear. "You're so smart with some things… But so innocent with others." He snaked his hand around the blond's waist, his fingers trailing downward.

Naruto shivered, but didn't move. Gaara smirked at the reaction, nodding to Sasuke as he hefted the blond over his shoulder, waving to the group. Sasuke started packing up their books while Naruto yelled back at the group. "Naruko says that the furniture will arrive around 8:30 tomorrow morning! Just letting you know!" Sasuke stayed behind for a few moments, trying to gather everything up.

Sakura smirked across the table at him. "What are you guys planning for Naruto tonight?"

He looked up slowly. "Just some gay gossip and homework. We'll be in Naruto's room, so if anyone wants Gaara's room to sleep in the bed, that'll be better than being woken up in five hours."

Itachi smiled down at his brother. "Don't do anything too irresponsible, otouto."

"I can try to keep them contained," Sasuke promised, leaving the group behind.


	13. Dawn's Damage Report

**Hikari* You know, the weird reviews…**

**Ryota* I think that it's funny that they think you're a virgin.**

**Kosuke* It does exist in our heads. That's how we wrote it. Thank you for calling our story original.**

**Hikari* Hooray for us losers!**

**Ryota* Yeah!**

**Asahi* -.-' Don't just agree with them…**

**Kosuke* It's best if you ignore those two.**

**Asahi* We're moving on without you two!**

Sunday passed in a blur to the teens. Kyuubi had honoured his promise to Naruko by getting up at 8 to check where everyone was sleeping in order to time the setup from the delivery company. He made himself some pancakes for breakfast, eating them by himself. Naruko had already left the room by the time his alarm had sounded, and was presumably spending the entire day on the twenty eight outfits she had been assigned. By the time the main rooms were finished on the first floor, most of the inhabitants of the house had woken up and ventured from their rooms. They congregated in the kitchen to help each other with homework, and most everyone had finished by the time the movers notified Kyuubi that there was only one room left to furnish. Kyuubi sighed, making his way down to the final room: Naruto's. The male looked into the room hesitantly to find the three boys singing and dancing to old boyband songs. "Don't you three think that you should have slept last night?"

Gaara didn't pause in his dancing to reply between lines. "Sleep is for the weak!"

Naruto giggled cutely, bouncing around to the bad choreography. "And time is racing toward us!"

The blond nudged Sasuke who blushed bright red as the song was ending. He struck a cute pose with two fingers around his right eye, his left closed. "Besides, we just wanna have fun!"

Kyuubi chuckled, motioning for the boys to get moving. "The crew wants to set up the furniture in the room, so if you three would move your dance practice into a different room, that would be great."

"Oh, okay, fine. I'll just go to a strip club then, Kyuu-nii."

Gaara and Sasuke sidled up to the boy and wrapped their arms around him possessively. "Option rejected. You're our little kitten."

The blond's face split in half from his blinding smile, practically prancing to the door in all of his own personally flamboyant Naruto-ness. The duo smiled at him, grinning cheekily to Kyuubi as they left the room. After wandering the house for a while, they moved into Gaara's room, looking around curiously at the new furniture, but when they laid down on the large bed, they fell asleep almost immediately, curled up together.

A loud alarm woke Gaara first. He glanced over to the clock in shock to see that it was already 3:30 in the morning and they had to leave the house on the van in two hours. "Guys, get up, we have to shower and eat…" Naruto didn't budge, but Sasuke did, looking up at the redhead groggily. His cheeks were pink with sleep and Gaara blushed a bit at the raven, briefly wondering if Sai woke up looking as adorable as the raven in front of him. The raven leaned into the redhead, nuzzling his chest and promptly falling back to sleep within moments. Gaara ran his fingers through Sasuke's soft, spiky hair. 'He's so cute… He's been through so much, but he can still stand to trust us so much. I wonder… Maybe Sai's like Sasuke. Maybe they both have a dark past, and that's why they click so much.' He leaned closer to the raven's head, burying his nose in the raven locks. 'He smells so good. Like a warm summer day and freshly cut grass. I bet Sai smells like cold days and warm fires…' He pulled back slowly, staring at the wall in horror. 'Why do I keep thinking about that damn stoic idiot?' He glanced down at Naruto, sleeping soundly next to his leg. He reached down, nudging the blond out of his sleep. The male cuddled closer to the redhead. He smiled down at his adorable best friend, but nudged him again with hopes of waking the loudmouth. The blond barely opened his eyes to find himself staring at his best friends' groins. He blinked in confusion at his position, looking around the small room to find Gaara's arms around Sasuke and the raven curled into the redhead's chest. Naruto pouted cutely, crawling up to the head of the bed, forcing his head under Gaara's arm and nuzzling the redhead's chest before falling back to sleep. The redhead sighed, kissing both of their heads lightly, leaning his head back and letting the duo sleep for a while longer.

**With Itachi**

Itachi was awoken by a soft alarm to his left. He tried to move himself to push the snooze button, but found that there was too much weight on his arm to move it. He opened his eyes reluctantly, looking for the offending object. He blinked a few times, staring at the pinkette that was curled up to his chest, her head resting on his shoulder. He tried to move his arm again, but couldn't, now noticing the numb feeling in it from a lack of circulation to the area. He rubbed Sakura's shoulder, trying to get the girl to wake up. She sat up groggily, her right hand shooting out to press the snooze button on the annoying alarm. The duo climbed out of bed, changing into some casual clothes. Itachi chose some dark jeans with a split in the knee and an old band t and black combat boots. Sakura, on the other hand, chose a black miniskirt with zippers that opened to reveal pink plaid and a lot of buckles and hooks to go with her pink graphic t and black ankle boots.

Itachi looked at the girl oddly before deciding to inquire about the skirt.

She looked down. "I like the skirt. It's fun…"

He nodded, taking a deep breath. "You know that that's a bondage skirt… Right?"

Her eyes grew wide and she stared at the skirt in horror. "Oh god! I'm getting rid of it!"

Itachi smirked, snaking his arms around the pinkette's small waist. "Really? I think it looks good on you."

She blushed brighter than Karin's hair, shrugging. "Let's just… Go get breakfast."

They descended the steps to the kitchen to hear Hinata calling into the other room that breakfast was ready. She noticed the duo descending the stairs and smiled brightly. "Hey, could you two go wake up the boys? Sasuke, Naruto and Gaara aren't up yet."

Itachi smiled kindly, heading toward the basement. "Sure thing, Hinata." The Uchiha knocked on Sasuke's door first, having sent Sakura down the hall to Naruto's room. She barged in without bothering to knock and Itachi waited for the indignant screams, but was met with silence. He knocked again at Sasuke's door, but there was no answer.

Sakura burst out of Naruto's room in a flurry. "He's not in there…"

Itachi's eyes widened, forcing the door to Sasuke's room open. But his brother was nowhere to be found. He started to grow panicked, hurrying to Gaara's room next. He knocked, and there was a muffled noise. Itachi pushed the door open to find Gaara trapped by the missing teens on the bed. Their clothes were disheveled, but there. He sighed in relief, trying to shake his brother awake. The smaller raven whined softly, burrowing his head further into Gaara's chest. The elder raven smiled, pulling his brother off of the redhead. "Come on… Time to get up, otouto."

The smaller blinked as he was stood up. He rubbed his eyes childishly, looking around in a daze. He looked up at Itachi. "What time is it?"

The elder glanced at his watch. "3:45."

Sasuke's eyes widened and he tore off toward the bathroom, leaving the room in his dust, leaving Itachi and Sakura to wake Naruto. Gaara meandered down the hall a few moments later, having pulled his arm free of the still sleeping blond. The bathroom door was closed from Sasuke, but the redhead figured it was probably okay to enter. He knocked once before pushing the door open. He walked in to hear the shower running against someone's body. He started brushing his teeth, spitting out the toothpaste as the shower curtain opened to show a blushing Sasuke who nodded to the boy, grabbing a towel and drying himself before putting on a robe to grab his own toothbrush. The redhead kissed the raven's forehead and stripped to get into the running shower. When Sasuke spit out his toothpaste, he cleared his throat. "Sorry about this morning, Gaara… I know it was probably awkward as hell…" Gaara paused, and Sasuke decided to move on. "I mean, you don't like me that way, and I'm sure it was weird-"

"It was nice."

Sasuke's eyes grew wide and he stared at the shower curtain. "What?"

Gaara sighed. "It wasn't awkward… Until I started thinking about Sai…"

The door opened then and the blond stomped his way in, looking in the mirror at his face. "So what? Now you have a thing for Sai? Just two nights ago, you couldn't stand him. What are you, a teenage girl?"

"I thought you were the girl. Especially with how you pouted and curled up against me this morning." Gaara shot back easily.

The blond's face grew red with anger and embarrassment. "At least I don't have a thing for Sai!"

Gaara pulled the curtain back, drying himself off and pulling on a robe to look at his hair. "I bet he's a lot like Sasuke actually… They look similar and he acts like Sasuke did in elementary school."

Sasuke shrugged, watching Naruto strip and hop into the shower. "Stuff was different back then…"

The room was silent while Naruto quickly showered and hopped out, drying off quickly. They exited the bathroom, heading to their respective rooms to dress before heading upstairs to scarf down some breakfast.

Naruko raced out of her studio as the trio passed, yelling. "Kyuubi! Fuck! Help me now!"

The raven and redhead stopped and stared at the blonde, but Naruto ran into the studio. "Pack me some breakfast for in the car!"

The remaining two boys made their way into the kitchen where Hinata was preparing some plates of food. "Naruto said to pack up breakfast for him."

Hinata blinked, looking up at the two boys oddly before handing them their plates. "What are the four of them doing this morning?" The duo stared at the blunette as though she had spoken a different language, and she clarified, handing their plates to them. "Naruko started yelling for Kyuubi an hour ago, and then for Karin… And now Naruto's been dragged into the mess as well."

"I heard that the auditions were harder on the designer than on the models, but I didn't really put much faith into it."

The teens looked over to Sakura, the boys practically inhaling their food. "What do you mean?"

Sakura sighed angstily. "Tsunade told me before I started that if Naruko seems to be floundering too much, that I should let her know and she'd talk to Jiraiya about making some exceptions for such a large group of models. The designers are given the new category two days in advance. During this time, they must design and create said design flawlessly for their any and all of their models. A lot of designers recruit months in advance and give their models crash courses in sewing and following designs so that they can help make the outfit themselves. Naruko apparently didn't want to train anyone because of her position as heiress to her family's design company, so the only people who can help her are Naruto, Kyuubi and Karin. All of whom were trained to design and sew from their childhood to breed new blood for their respective companies. Kyuubi's parents had a smaller company that carried out designs, Naruko and Naruto have an uncle in a design company and parents in a large textile company, and Karin's family takes care of the alterations in the Uzumaki family businesses."

Gaara's head whipped around to face Sakura. "Kyuubi's parents?"

Sakura eyebrows shot up for a millisecond. "Sorry. I meant Karin's parents!"

Sasuke stalked over to the pinkette. "I might have bought that excuse from Naruko or Naruto, but not from the girl who's fifth in our class."

She sighed reluctantly. "Kyuubi isn't Naruto and Naruko's brother by blood… He's Jiraiya's nephew. He's arranged to marry Naruko in the next two years."

The two males froze in shock. Hinata sighed heavily, packing the thirteen lunchboxes into the bottom of a large duffle, then the extra four boxes with the Uzumakis' breakfasts. "I'll go see who can drive the van then. Naruko, Kyuubi and Karin are all going to be eating in the car. There should still be half an hour before we need to be leaving after that, so maybe I'll go see if I can help out." The girl disappeared up the stairs, leaving the duffle on the counter.

Sasuke sighed heavily. "I'm going to go see if they need anything that I can help with."

Gaara nodded, following the raven out of the kitchen and into the studio to see the four Uzumaki children running around with wooden hoops, irons, pins, needles and various spools of thread. Naruko's head shot up at the sound of the door. "Do either of you know how to sew or embroider?"

Gaara shook his head awkwardly, but Sasuke nodded to the blond's surprise. "Mother taught me how to embroider when I was younger. She wanted to make sure I could impress a girl."

Gaara shrugged awkwardly. "I can pack stuff up and set up anything you need me to."

Naruko pointed to a list on the door to the fitting room. "Go find the items on that list in the storage room upstairs. Once you have them, take them out to the van and put them in the back. Keep them in the boxes they come in or I will personally skin you alive!" The redhead nodded in fear, taking a picture of the list and racing out of the room. "Sasuke. See the instructions that Kyuubi's following, free him up so that he can help me sew these last few dresses together."

The raven nodded, rushing over to Kyuubi's small stool and table to pick up where he left off. Hinata entered the room shortly afterwards, softly inquiring. "Can I help at all?"

"What can you do?"

"Anything." She had a confident, determined look on her face. Kyuubi and Naruko glanced between each other.

"How fast are you?"

"Top speed on machine, embroidery is mediocre."

The duo nodded to each other, Kyuubi returning to start another embroidery project, handing the machine over to the blunette. The girl rolled up her sleeves, starting out slow on the machine to gain a feel for the Brother as opposed to her Singer at home. She quickly sped up, lining up the fabric long before the needle could reach it. Not long after, Karin set down her knife/seam ripper, picking up a hanger that presumably went with the pants she had destroyed. On her way past Kyuubi and Sasuke, she glanced down at the raven's work, noting his talent for the art. The shift from Kyuubi's portion to his was nearly seamless. The lines weren't quite as crisp. Though it was impressive that he managed to come as close as he was. She handed the pants to Naruto who quickly ironed some seams and handed them back to her before continuing to steam a dress. Hinata finished multiple sewing jobs before running out of work and picking up a hoop to help the boys embroider. Her work was faster than Sasuke's, but Sasuke's details were crisper and had more free-hand embellishments that improved the design. Naruko finished her sewing and packed up the outfits before checking over the pieces of embroidery work, pulling the final piece out and sewing speedily. Her fingers flew across the fabric, moving the hoop only when she needed to as far as she could. A few times she pricked herself, but barely slowed to make sure she wasn't bleeding.

Gaara entered the room a few minutes later. "We have to leave now, Naruko. It's 5:28."

The blonde didn't look up. "Take those bagged hangers laying over that first table in front of you. Those are all complete outfits that are ready to go."

The redhead nodded, picking them up and rushing out to the van. Sasuke hurried a bit more, nearly finishing his sewing when a buzzer went off. He pulled the hoop off, shifting it that last few inches, quickly linking the round and handing his project off to Naruto. The blond male ironed out the creases from the hoop and pulled a hanger off a rack for Sasuke to put the outfit into. Hinata and Kyuubi finished theirs at the same time and Naruto checked them for wrinkles before snapping to his sister. "Time's up, sis. I know that you aren't done, but the buzzer went off already. We'll be late!"

"This is fucking bullshit!" The girl cursed, adding some embellishments without the hoop to make the outfit look completed and tossed it to her brother who quickly ran the iron over the creases and easily hooked it onto the hanger. "Time to go."

Hinata ran through the kitchen to grab the duffle with the food on the way out to the van. Itachi was in the driver's seat with Sakura in the passenger seat next to him. Everyone else was piled in and ready to go when the small group practically sprinted out the door and to the street to jump in. Before everyone had gotten seated, let alone buckled in, Itachi was pulling away. The entire group sat in silence for a few moments before Naruto shoved her hands in the air and screamed triumphantly. "We did it!"

The tension broke and everyone laughed and started talking. Hinata smiled, opening the duffle and handing the Uzumakis their breakfasts.


End file.
